The Return of Pein!
by NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799
Summary: He was betrayed by his friends, his village and most of all, his precious people who he had vowed to protect with his life. Saved by his supposed hunters, Uzumaki Naruto will take the new alias of Pein, the god of Amegakure. read as he commands the S-ranked criminals and the shinobi world gets upside down. Rinnegan, sharingan, EMS Naruto, Major Konoha bashing. First priority fic ;)
1. Chapter 1

**New year, a new story. I wanted to write this story for a long time now. If you are a regular reader then you may remember that I once mentioned it in author's note of my other story 'The Invincible Eyes of the Sennin'. I just thought I should at least give it a go and see what to expect from it in the future.**

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own a shit, and I definitely don't make any money from these random thoughts of my brain, because if I did, you all will be my employees now in my multinational company of shinobi manufacturing. Hahahaaaaa. **(poker face)** I am serious.

 _ **THE RETURN OF PEIN**_

 _ **\\\CHAPTER-1/**_

 _ **^^^STARTING OF A LEGEND's STORY^^^**_

"FUCK…!"

Moaned one blond ninja known as Uzumaki Naruto, as he tried to lift his hand to cover his eyes from the damn light coming from the window of the room he was currently lying in.

Opening his right eye a little to peek at his surroundings, he immediately regretted it as the light falling in his pupil intensified.

Some would think why he would open his right eye only. Well, the reason for that would be the swelling of his left eye. The very same eye his so-called Brother kicked.

Yes, he, Uzumaki Naruto had failed to knock some sense in Uchiha Sasuke's brain.

Adjusting his head so that the light source in room, that is the window, was no longer in his line of sight, Naruto scanned the surroundings of the room.

'Never thought the Heaven was built to look like an inn, or the hell for that matter' he thought rolling his eyes, an action which made him wince again due to the pain in his left eye.

Suddenly the gate of the room opened and a tall figure walked in. The figure lacked any curves, which indicated that the person standing by Naruto's bedside was definitely a male.

His jet-black hairs were back in a low ponytail, disappearing back in the back of his high collar shirt. Two strands were falling in front of his face from either side of his eyes, slightly shadowing them. Two lines were clearly visible on his cheeks.

The figure was staring at a still Naruto who was doing a very bad job at looking unconscious.

His breathing was shallow and his fists were clenched. Eyes squeezed shut and a bead of sweat on his brow was quite easy to spot.

"I know you are conscious, so stop pretending otherwise," stated the figure.

Naruto suddenly jumped at this but quickly fell back on his back due to the condition of his body. Still he turned his head to look at the face of the figure standing on his bedside.

Naruto immediately recognized those lines on the person's cheeks. The stoic look on this persons face was a dead giveaway of who he was anyway.

Naruto's eyes widened when realization dawned on him. He was not dead and he definitely was not in heaven.

"U-Uchiha I-Itachi?"

Gasped Naruto, suddenly feeling his throat go dry.

'SHIT, SHIT, SHIT'

Naruto quickly knew that he was done for. Out of all the people to have found him, it has to be this person, Uchiha Itachi.

His eyes quickly darted around the room to find possible escape routes, all the while scanning for his weapons with his hands in his kunai pouch.

Much to his horror, his pouch was missing.

Itachi observed all this with keen interest shining in his black eyes. Uzumaki Naruto was quite an interesting specimen indeed.

"Don't bother, I already removed anything you may need to escape and if it is you weapons pouch you are trying to find, wrong leg," said Itachi coolly.

"The hell…" said Naruto but quickly found his pouch on his right thigh, full of his weapons.

Before Naruto could use any weapon from his pouch, Itachi moved swiftly and was in front of him, holding his right wrist from reaching into the weapon holder.

"Even if I left it there as a show of non hostility, it doesn't mean you are allowed to use it," said infamous Uchiha.

"What do you want, I thought you guys would have extracted the Kyuubi from my gut when I was knocked out," said Naruto with barely contained rage.

"First of all, you were unconscious for a week. Second, no, the Kyuubi still resides in the seal on your abdomen, otherwise you won't be alive right now" said Itachi, slowly letting go of Naruto's wrist.

Itachi was confident that after telling Naruto about the Kyuubi being still inside him, he would become somewhat less hostile.

From the look on Naruto's face, he was right.

"Where am I?" asked Naruto while sitting back in the bed.

"We are in an inn outside Amegakure, south of Hi no Kuni," answered Itachi while taking a seat in a nearby chair. Naruto just nodded before his eyes went wide with realization.

"What happened to Sasuke?" he asked jumping to his feet.

"Calm down Naruto, I won't lie to you. Your mission to retrieve Sasuke was, a failure," said Itachi while looking down at the floor with some guilt in his eyes if Naruto was seeing correct.

"I must go back to Konoha, everyone will be worried about me," said Naruto before he started to reach for the door.

"I never said you were allowed to leave the room," said Itachi, stopping Naruto in his track.

Naruto turned towards Itachi and stared at him in confusion

"What the fuck do you want from me then? And I know it's not the Kyuubi, otherwise I would be dead by now," he asked irritated.

Itachi looked at him for a minute as if contemplating with himself regarding what he must say next. Finally, he sighed and motioned Naruto to take his previous position on the bed.

Shrugging and grumbling about secretive adults, Naruto walked back to the bed and plopped down on it.

"What now?" asked Naruto clearing out of patience. Itachi noted that Naruto was already looking better.

'There are some perks of being a Jinchuriki as well after all, no matter how less they may be.'

"Naruto, you can't go back to Konoha," stated Itachi making Naruto give a confused expression.

"And why is that?" asked Naruto.

"Because Konoha thinks you are dead," answered Itachi.

"THE FUCK…" screamed Naruto as he jumped in Itachi's face.

"Let me explain Naruto," said Itachi in a calm tone.

Naruto paused for a second, staring at his former best friends elder brother.

"Then explain!" he said sternly as he sat back on the bed.

"After the two of you, you and Sasuke that is, finished your fight at the valley of End, Kabuto was sent there by Orochimaru to collect Sasuke's defeated body. You had lost a lot of blood otherwise I am sure he would have taken you as well. "

"Jinchuriki or not, no one can survive that much blood loss, but you, you are a special. I must say Kyuubi's Jinchuriki status and the Uzumaki blood in your veins makes your one tough bird to kill," said Itachi with a barely noticeable smirk.

At this Naruto puffed out his chest with a fist placed near his heart.

"That I am, Dattebayo!" exclaimed Naruto with his head high, pounding a fist on his chest. Regretting the action eventually.

Itachi just gave an amused raise of eyebrow at that and continued.

"After that I reached the Valley to investigate the vast chakra usage. By the time I reached your body, you were already dead-"

"WHAT!, but I am alive!" exclaimed Naruto while jumping out of his bed.

"Yes I am sure you are, but your heart stopped there for a whole minute or so. You are lucky I had another Akatsuki with me instead of Kisame. He saved you using some of his _unique_ abilities.

Still I am sure your contract with Toads is void. Konoha never sent a search party for you. From what our Akatsuki spy told us, they didn't even know you were missing before they checked the roster for your next mission, three days later."

"You are lying, there is no way Konoha will forget me!" said Naruto, getting a little angry with the older Uchiha.

"I have nothing to gain by lying Naruto. From what I know, it was Jiraiya who told them that you were a KIA(killed in action) case.

Moreover, those councilors with the backing of the hokage, said that someone like you doesn't deserve his name on the memorial stone. They never made a grave for you stating that without a body, a grave was meaningless. Even if it was a plain excuse."

Naruto was now shocked, his Baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, his friends, everyone just suddenly decided that he was not needed in their lives.

All his emotions were now coming to the surface in the form of tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Even if they had made a grave, those damn villagers would have taken out their anger on that tomb stone," whispered Naruto under his breath.

"I am sorry you had to hear it, I really am" said Itachi, trying to comfort the clearly broken ninja.

"Its okay, its not like I am surprised by the council's actions, its just that even those I considered friends forgot me" mumbled Naruto with teary eyes.

Itachi only nodded and continued to observe Naruto closely. Suddenly red chakra started to seep out of Naruto's hands around his clenched fists, transforming them into claws.

"Naruto, stop! Don't draw on Kyuubi's chakra," said Itachi in an alarmed tone.

Naruto snapped out of his stupor and turned towards Itachi with teary eyes.

"What am I supposed to do now Boar nii-san" asked Naruto.

Itachi's eyes grew wide at hearing Naruto call him by his ANBU code name.

"How did you…." stuttered Itachi.

"I know you were the ANBU with the boar mask who always protected me from mobs. I still remember when you took a kunai in your shoulder to save me from a Jonin.

I asked Kakashi-sensei for your identity once but he refused. Then I asked Hokage Jii-san and he told your identity. Actually, he told me a lot about you."

This changed the situation now as Itachi quickly kneeled in front of Naruto and placed both of his hands on his shoulders.

"Naruto-kun, you must understand that whatever I did to you and the Uchiha clan, I did it for the safety of our village." He said in a brotherly tone.

"I understand nii-san" said Naruto before quickly lunging forward and taking Itachi in a hug.

Itachi was surprised at first by the sudden physical contact of affection from the blond, but relaxed in the hug.

Breaking the hug Naruto looked at Itachi's face and asked

"So what am I supposed to do now nii-san?"

At this Itachi got a solemn look on his face.

"Well first, we must make sure you do not die from your _condition_ " he replied.

"What do you mean my condition?" asked a worried Naruto.

"When you fought Sasuke at the valley of End, he was using his curse mark right?" asked Itachi.

"Well yeah and he drove that chidori of his in my left shoulder. It still hurts like a bitch," answered Naruto, holding his left side of chest.

"Yes well, when he was using that chakra and drove that chidori in your chest, that tainted chakra of curse seal entered your system. Right now it is fighting the Kyuubi's chakra for dominance, resulting in destruction of YOUR chakra along with your chakra network."

"How, I thought Kyuubi's chakra was the most powerful chakra there is?" asked a worried Naruto.

"well that's right, Kyuubi's chakra really is the most powerful chakra in the world but you must know Naruto kun, even the best can be bested" replied Itachi.

On seeing a confused look on Naruto's face, he decided to elaborate.

"Kyuubi's chakra is not that much powerful when inside you. The most it can do is healing and defending your body from poisons and diseases. Its treating the foreign chakra as a virus right now, battling it for dominance. Corroding your blood vessels as well as chakra system"

"So how much damage is already done?" asked a fearful Naruto.

"Quite a lot, from what I can tell using my sharingan. However, there is a way to save you. When I brought you here, I injected you with my blood to give you a little boost in energy to stay alive."

"And that means?" asked Naruto again.

"We are going to need a new body for you, that's all," stated Itachi in a matter of fact-ly tone.

"And how am I going to get this _new body_ of mine, please do tell," asked Naruto rolling his eyes.

"Now that's where other Akatsuki members come in," said Itachi while turning to point towards the door of the room.

The door opened and in walked two Akatsuki members. Naruto quickly observed their appearances.

The first one to walk inside was definitely female as her body was filled at all the right places. Her pale blue hairs were tucked neatly in a high bun behind her head with a paper flower in it.

She had a piercing under her lower lip and was wearing a light blue eye shade. Her amber eyes were firmly gazing at him as if she was judging him with her gaze only. Naruto was fine with her gaze as it was better than the glares he regularly received in Konoha.

The other guy, or rather being, was what confused and to some extent, scared him. Naruto couldn't tell if this member was a male or a female thus he went with the male guess.

His right side of the face was completely black with a round yellow thing as his eye. His left side of the face was nearly white and had green colored eye. His teeth were sharp if what Naruto saw was any indication.

A mop of green hairs sat on his head. The weirdest thing in his appearance was a pitcher plant like structure surrounding his upper torso. The plant like thing easily reached a foot higher than his head, adding a lot to his height.

"So this is the kid you told me about?" asked the female.

"Yes, this is Naruto kun, Naruto kun, meet Konan san and Zetsu," introduced Itachi, motioning towards the named individuals.

"N-Nice to meet you," replied Naruto meekly.

'The kid is quite fragile and his aura is that of a joker yet the power radiating from him is that of a Jonin. His chakra is even more than that of an elite Jonin bordering Kage level. He may be the most suitable candidate for our job' thought an expressionless Konan before realizing that she never greeted him for his greetings.

"Nice to meet you as well, Uzumaki Naruto," she greeted back nodding her head, though still emotionless.

"Ohayo, Naruto!" chimed white Zetsu from behind her.

"Naruto-kun, it was Zetsu who saved you at the valley of End, like I mentioned before, using his _unique abilities._ As for Konan-san, she will be the one providing the body," explained Itachi.

"Arigato, Zetsu-san for saving my life," said Naruto bowing.

" **It was no problem Uzumaki,"** replied the Black Zetsu.

Suddenly Konan turned towards the door but before opening it, she turned her head back towards Itachi,

"Get him ready, Pein will be meeting him soon. Make sure to get him to Ame before Pein gets upset." With that, she left.

White Zetsu chuckled and turned towards Naruto

"See ya at Ame, later" and started to sink in the floor of the room, much to the shock of Naruto.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to that. He always travels that way. Even I was a little surprised back there when he came walking in the room" said Itachi after the departure of said Akatsuki member.

"Huh?" was Naruto's bright response.

Itachi just shook his head at the blond In front of him and was about to say something when a clone of White Zetsu popped out of the floor

"Almost forgot to give these, Naruto. Konan san gave me these for you" said the clone and threw a packet at Naruto, which was caught by Itachi. The clone just shrugged and disappeared.

Itachi opened the packet and inspected the contents, before giving it to Naruto.

"Go and get changed, Zetsu will be here to help you when we leave. I am going to get you something to eat. Any preferences?" stated/asked Itachi.

"RAMEN!" Naruto was quick to reply.

Itachi just gave a smile that was easily to consider as a rare twitch of his lips.

"Why am I not surprised?" Itachi asked himself before nodding and leaving the room.

Naruto quickly, though with a lot of pain and struggle, went to the bathroom to change.

 **WITH ITACHI**

Itachi was walking in the dining area of the inn.

'After all this time, Naruto-kun still remembers my Boar persona. It shows how less contact he had had with other Konoha shinobi,' thought Itachi.

Strolling towards the counter for orders, he motioned the waiter at the desk.

"Yes Sir, what can I get you?" asked the waiter politely.

"Ah, five bowls of miso ramen and a vegetable salad"

Itachi gave his order, all the while looking in the eyes of the waiter with his sharingan. He was in no mood of dealing with any questions regarding the large amount of ramen he ordered.

"Right away Sir" replied a glazed eyed waiter before turning around and heading inside the kitchen.

Itachi just sighed and turned towards one of the empty tables nearby. Taking a seat, he started to reflect on the recent incidents in his Akatsuki profession.

 **FLASHBACK-six months ago**

Ame, Itachi was sitting in his room in Pein's tower. In front of him on the desk was an unfinished Intel report for Jiraiya, or rather, Konoha.

He was contemplating on whether he should continue supporting a village like what Konoha had became in past several years. Especially after the death of Sandaime Hokage- Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Thought he was ashamed to admit that the village started to corrupt just after the death of Yondaime sama-Namikaze Minato. Still he had faith in his village and accepted the Uchiha clan-massacre.

He never wanted to kill his own clan, much less his own parents. He loved his mother, Uchiha Mikoto. Whenever he came back from a tiring day, his father always asked," Did something of importance happen?"

It was his mother who always asked," How was your day Sochi?" or "Should I bring something for you to eat?"

He had to kill them all just because a man planned to start a coup d'état and kill the Hokage along with wiping the Uchiha clan.

Shimura Danzo.

That old war hawk used some of his Uchiha goons to spark the idea of coup d'état in the clan. Then he went after Uchiha Shishui, his best friend, to take his eyes.

Itachi found out about all this after he joined the Akatsuki and squeezed it out of a Zetsu clone. Apparently, memories of a Zetsu clone are not transferred back to original, something that came in handy.

Itachi was about to reach a decision that could change the fate of Konoha and Akatsuki when there was a knock on the door.

He knew that it wasn't Kisame because the walking sushi always conversed with his sword when walking. This one was silent. Sasori and Zetsu, along with pein and Tobi will never knock for obvious reasons of their own. Remaining male members were not used to the light knocking he just heard.

That leaves _her._ Turning back towards his desk and hiding the report in his cloak, he activated his sharingan and toned

"You may come in, Konan-san."

The door opened and the blue haired beauty walked in. her expression was the same, emotionless, but Itachi's sharingan caught the trails of mascara on her cheeks.

She had been crying.

"What is it?" he asked cautiously.

"I need your help."

 **FLASHBACK ENDS**

The waiter took Itachi out of his memory road

"Your order, Sir" said the waiter with a large tray in hand.

Five bowls of ramen and one of salad.

"Please deliver the ramen at room number 17, my little brother will receive it," said Itachi while taking his salad.

"As you wish, Sir" said the waiter before motioning a room service woman to take the order to Itachi's room.

Itachi again started to think about _that_ day all the while chewing on his salad.

 **FLASHBACK**

"What for?" Itachi asked back.

"Tobi or should I say, Uchiha Madara, attacked Nagato last night."

Itachi's eyes widened after hearing this. He was the only one Nagato trusted to know about the secrets of Akatsuki, he knew about Nagato being behind Pein and Uchiha Madara's fake A.K.A. Tobi.

That's why some of his recent missions were paired up with Zetsu, Tobi's lap dog.

"What?, Why?, how?" asked Itachi clearly over confused with what he just heard.

Konan struggled to maintain her composure and replied

"He said that Nagato was no longer fit to leader Akatsuki, said that he needed to kill him to take over Akatsuki, to complete his _Mugen Taskyoumi,_ he needs his rinnegan."

Itachi suddenly became aware of the danger the world was in. If someone like Tobi got control over top S-ranked shinobis, it would be a massacre.

"Where is he?" asked Itachi in a sense of dread.

"Who?" asked Konan to confirm whom Itachi was talking about.

"Nagato, I don't have time to care for what Tobi is planning with Akatsuki."

"He was profusely bleeding when I reached him, I did what I could but he is still dying."

"Let's go, I want to meet him now."

With that, both of them left to reach the top floor of the tower.

On reaching the top floor, Konan went to a wall trigger in Pein's office and pulled it down. The wall separated to reveal a secret room behind it.

Lying in the middle of the room, on a futon, was the former leader of Akatsuki and the wielder of rinnegan. Nagato was wrapped in bandages from his shoulders to his lower abdomen. Patches of red could be seen on the bandages indicating recent bleeding.

Konan quickly moved to his side and started to check the bandages for any too tight fits. Itachi slowly walked towards him and stood at the foot of the bed.

Nagato cracked open an eye to look at the Uchiha heir. Even with his Mangekyou, Itachi always felt weak in front of those legendary orbs. God's eyes **(** not from Fast n Furious 7 **)** as they were called by ancient societies and people at certain temples.

"Itachi" crocked Nagato.

"Nagato" replied Itachi.

"I am dying"

"I can see that, same case as mine"

"Tell me, do you remember your brother, the one you encounter in Konoha?" asked Nagato while turning his head a little to facilitate Konan's check up.

"What does it have to do with Sasuke?" asked a confused Itachi.

Nagato chuckled and ended up coughing up some blood. After Konan helped him to get rid of the coughing fit by sitting him up, he said

"Not him, the _other_ one"

Itachi gave a confused look before realization dawned on him.

'Not _him'_ thought Itachi, giving a wide-eyed look.

Nagato saw this is barely controlled himself from laughing in his face.

"I can see that you know whom I am talking about. _Konoha no Uzumaki Naruto_ , _Kyuubi no Jinchuriki._ "

"What do you need from him?" asked Itachi, feeling a little over protectiveness.

In reality, Itachi never intended on capturing Naruto, he only visited Konoha to get to know about Sasuke's and Naruto's level of power. Though he only managed to engage Sasuke in combat, which was disappointing, he knew that Naruto was more powerful than Sasuke.

Itachi knew why Naruto had a bridge named after him in wave. He was a powerful shinobi for his age and a powerful asset for future of Konoha.

If Kisame had captured Naruto, he would have ordered a tactical retreat to save the blond.

"I am not going after him again, Nagato" stated Itachi with a glare.

Nagato just smiled and raised a hand to stop Konan from shuffling on his side. Konan quickly backed away and stood intently to hear what her friend had to say.

"What makes you think that I want him captured Itachi?" asked Nagato.

When Itachi and Konan just continued to stare at him, expecting an answer, he continued

"I timed your visit in such a way that you will face maximum obstacles, _Asuma Sarutobi, Maito Gai_ AND _Sharingan no Kakashi_ being there to name a few. However, most of all, Jiraiya sensei was there with him.

You see, I never wanted to capture the little Uzumaki, after all, he is my last known kin."

Itachi and Konan were now shocked. What was Nagato babbling about?

"What do you mean last known kin?" asked a shocked Konan.

"My real name is, or rather, full name is Uzumaki Nagato," replied Nagato.

That answered most of the upcoming questions together. Now Itachi thought that it was Nagato who was secretly helping him, NOT Tobi.

Itachi always thought that it was Tobi helping him after the night of massacre.

"You mean to say that you are a relative of the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki?" asked Konan.

"You can say that" smiled Nagato.

"So what do you need him for?" asked Itachi.

"You know how he is treated in Konoha, I won't be surprised if they assign him suicide missions in future, to get rid of him and their enemies of course."

Itachi nodded at this. He knew exactly what Naruto suffered at hands of Konoha villagers and shinobi alike. He was there to save him most of the times after all.

"I want him to take my place as Pein. I want him to start acting like an Uzumaki. I am dying but Madara must be stopped AT ALL COSTS. I intended to collect all the Bijuus and hide them from the world. Without them, without their special weapons, villages will think twice before starting a war."

"Akatsuki must fulfill that agenda. Madara's eye of the moon plan is too risky and dangerous. Only the wielder of Kyuubi's immense power can defeat him."

"I want you to bring him to me, train him with me, make him the pein I failed to become…make him the god, I failed to become"

Itachi and Konan were silent for a while. This sounded a lot like a dying man's last wish. They will fulfill it for this friend.

 **FLASHBACK ENDS**

Itachi sighed again, they had fulfilled Nagato's wish. From what he could tell, the chakra drug/poison Madara used on Nagato will kill him in another six months.

Something about the matter of Rinnegan.

It is said on the Uchiha tablets that rinnegan can only be transferred from one host to other in two ways.

Either the first host willingly donates the eyes or the host dies a natural death, not killed. At least that was what Nagato told him about after reading the tablets himself with those orbs.

Madara was using the second way, once Nagato died he will take the rinnegan from the corpse.

Naruto must change bodies before both him and Nagato die. The tainted chakra from the curse seal and Kyuubi's chakra were battling for dominance in his body, corroding it from inside.

Nagato may be able to help with the body problem but Zetsu will definitely inform Madara about Naruto.

'Damn it, why everyone close to me has to go and fall in dangerous situations. First the clan, then Sasuke and now…. Naruto-kun' thought Itachi, cursing inwards.

'Whatever happens, I will protect Naruto with my life'

With that, Itachi stood up and walked away.

 **NEXT DAY**

 **AMEGAKURE**

 **PEIN'S TOWER**

Naruto and Itachi, along with Konan were standing in front of a set of large gates, gates leading to Pein's office to be more specific.

"Let's go" said Konan before knocking at the door. Naruto gulped and clutched Itachi's cloak firmly in his fists.

"Come in" came a hollow voice from the other side, and they quickly entered the office.

There in front of them was the reason for their visit, Nagato.

He was sitting in his seat behind his desk with his back towards them, his eyes gazing outside the office window.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I was informed that you were in need of some serious training as well as …. a new body" stated Nagato.

Naruto again gulped and just nodded dumbly. Somehow, he knew that this guy could see him nod even with his back facing them.

"Good, your new body is in that container at the side, go take a look."

All three of them turned and approached the container. Naruto was nervous; after all, how many could say that they chose which body they wanted.

Itachi quickly pushed a button on the side of the container and its cover moved to the side.

The cover revealed the body of a man roughly the age of Itachi or Kakashi. Orange hair, angular and lean face. Three piercings on either side of the nose, piercings under the lower lip with some on both ears.

This was the body of Yahiko.

Konan gasped and turned towards Nagato

"Why his body? You know how much he meant to us, to me!" she asked, almost crying.

"Yahiko was my best friend Konan. I am going to die soon. Akatsuki do not need me, they need the founder, Yahiko. He must live on. I am sure he would have wanted that as well," replied Nagato, now turning to face the three of them.

"From your words, it seems he is of your age, then why does he look so young?" asked a confused Naruto.

"Because he died a long time ago," answered Itachi, observing the body in front of him.

This was the face of Pein for other Akatsuki members.

"Now Naruto, your training will start from tomorrow, all three of us will be training you, now go and rest. Konan, show him his room, as for you Itachi, I have some matters to discuss with you," said Nagato, before sitting back in his seat.

Naruto only had one thought

'This is going to be one hell of a training.'

 **THE END**

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NamikazeMinato.7799 out

Ja Ne!


	2. Exchange of bodies

**All right! Longest chapter written by me so far. Word count=10,203**

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 **The Return of Pein (the god)**

 _ **^^^The exchange of body^^^**_

 **Three Months later**

 **==The training room, Pein's tower==**

Naruto stood in front of Itachi with dirt on his face and bruises covering his body. His hairs were sticking to his forehead due to the dirt and sweat. He was wearing an Uchiha styled T-shirt (like Itachi used to wear in Sasuke's childhood memories) with the Uchiha clan symbol on his back. Black pants with many pockets completed his attire. No hetai-ate was visible anywhere on his small frame though.

Itachi himself was not wearing his Akatsuki cloak, instead he was sporting his mesh shirt and grey pants. His eyes were firmly locked with Naruto's deep blue orbs in a stare contest.

They were sparring to test the progress level of Naruto's Taijutsu. If the bruises Naruto was sporting were any indication, Itachi was not pulling back his kicks and punches. Itachi himself sported some dirt in his hair as he had been on the receiving end of Naruto's Uzumaki Barrage.

"Start taking it seriously Naruto Kun, or else I will have to kick it up a notch," said Itachi with a stern look.

Naruto gulped but nodded anyways and changed his stance again. Now his right leg was stretched back, his left hand stretched outwards with his palm facing upwards while his right hand was near his chest with a ram seal formed.

Itachi nodded again, recognizing the stance and shot forward, intending on finishing the fight in one single attack.

He appeared in front of Naruto and tried to kick him in his chest, Naruto effectively blocked the attack by bringing his guard up. Itachi, after having his kick blocked, quickly spun on his heel and tried to deliver a kick to Naruto's neck from behind.

Naruto saw the incoming kick and the power it packed and quickly ducked under it, blocking it would have been nasty for him. Itachi used his right hand and pulled Naruto down by grabbing his neck, while trying to knee him in the face.

Naruto dodged quickly by disappearing and appearing behind him, his fist pulled back to punch Itachi in the side. Itachi knew what was coming thus he moved at lightning speed and elbowed Naruto in the gut.

Naruto staggered back while coughing and holding his stomach. Itachi never waited for him to catch his breath and turned to face him.

Naruto looked up at Itachi, only to be blindsided by a punch to his right cheek. He fell back on his butt from the power behind the punch. Itachi relaxed and offered his hand to his fallen brother.

Naruto knew from experience that if he took the hand, Itachi was going to bob him on his head and then knee him in the face.

Itachi was wondering why Naruto was hesitating but nearly smirked when Naruto reached for his hand.

'Sometimes you are too trusting for your own good, Naruto,' thought a smirking Itachi.

Just as Naruto grabbed his hand, Itachi moved to bob him on his head.

In a flash, Naruto turned around and slammed Itachi on the ground by lifting him like a wrestler.

"Aahhh!" moaned Itachi after meeting the ground.

Naruto didn't wait for Itachi to get back on his feet. He quickly jumped on Itachi's stomach and sat down on him.

"I won!" said Naruto while smiling a little. He had stopped grinning after starting his training three months ago. Even his smile was becoming a rare sight for the three senseis of his.

Itachi took care of his battlefield training i.e., Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu. Naruto spent six hours of the day training with Itachi.

Kisame was told that Itachi was suffering from the bad after effects of his disease and was under a probation period. Yes, with the help of some powerful Uzumaki blood from Naruto and a little chakra manipulation by Nagato, Konan was able to cure Itachi's disease, or atleast that's what they assumed.

Why didn't they used Nagato's blood you ask? The answer is that the rinnegan had altered Nagato's genes, making it dangerous to use his blood for any kind of treatment.

Speaking of Konan and Nagato, Konan started to teach Naruto everything that he never learned at the academy, reason being discriminating teachers of course. Naruto spent at least three hours a day with her to learn about the history of the shinobi world as well as other important things such as geography of elemental nations, weather conditions of different villages, laws and conducts of shinobis and things like that.

As for Nagato, he would point out flaws in Naruto's stances and hand seal sequences to make him as perfect as possible, after all no one is ever perfect. There are always scopes for improvement via practice and training. NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799 once said 'Practice makes a man perfect', yeah it was me bookworms.

Naruto also spent his free time talking with Nagato about his views of shinobi world, about the late Uzumaki clan and about Akatsuki's motives. He was going to replace him soon after all, he will be taking his place in Akatsuki as the organizations new leader, Pein.

As for Akatsuki, Madara a.k.a. Tobi, had revealed his Madara persona in front of all the members. There was uproar among the Akatsuki as they questioned the whereabouts of Pein but after beating down Hidan and Deidara, he proved his power as the new leader of Akatsuki and established his dominance.

The orders were the same that is why no one objected, though Sasori and Kakuzu were a little reluctant at first but their resistance was settled down after some time.

Hidan and Kakuzu were still bounty hunting to raise funds for the organization whereas Sasori and Deidara were ordered to start planning the capture of Ichibi no tenuki. Kisame was working with Zetsu on collecting information about the whereabouts of other Jinchurikis.

Nagato was gradually losing his chakra, he was no longer able to use all six paths at the same time. He could only use one path at a time, barely two when risking proponing his death. He was afraid that if they delayed Naruto's soul transfer in Yahiko's body any longer, he may not be able perform the ritual.

Itachi new this as well that's why he was doing everything he could to make Naruto as powerful as possible in the short period of time.

Soon they will perform the ritual and Naruto will have a new body, which will come with many responsibilities and burdens.

 **==Obito's Quarters==**

" **Obito, what are we going to do now? Nagato is planning to use Preta path's power on Uzumaki to give him a new body,"** asked black Zetsu.

"Yes, Konan is preparing necessary medicines to boost Nagato's chakra for a short interval of time. Itachi is also giving his all in training the blondie," added white Zetsu.

"I will do nothing for now. All three of them are training Naruto together, that would make him a good addition to Akatsuki. Even the power of Nagato's Preta path will not be able to transfer Naruto's presence of mind from one body to another, it'll not be enough."

"Once he fails and kid dies again, I will take little Naruto's body from them and you will revive him." Answered Obito with his lone sharingan eye spinning behind his mask.

" **And this time, he would only be a shell without any brain, which you will mold in a loyal subordinate, if I may, a well thought plan indeed,"** stated the black Zetsu.

"Exactly, after dying this time, his brain will die for sure and I will get his Uzumaki body to do my bidding," said Obito while smirking behind his mask.

'Soon Naruto, soon you will call me master and the power of Kyuubi will be under by fist' thought Obito before turning around and walking inside his quarters.

 **==Pein's office==**

"Itachi, how is Naruto's training going?" asked Nagato.

All three of Naruto's senseis were present inside Pein's office, discussing about Naruto's condition as well as his progress.

"All I can say is that he is a natural. He is like a Ninjutsu sponge and absorbs any type of Ninjutsu that I teach him. Taijutsu is getting better day by day and he is easily chunin level at it, seeing as he was able to knock me down in our last session, even though I was holding back." Itachi's answered with a thought full look.

"That's good, is there anything else we should know?" asked Konan while Nagato only nodded.

"Yes, his kenjutsu is also improving by leaps and bounds, though I am ashamed to report that his Genjutsu is worse than an academy student, even after I trained him using my sharingan. I don't think he will ever be able to dispel a genjutsu, much less cast one," reported Itachi with shame evident in his voice.

He, Uchiha Itachi, was training Naruto. He was feared for many reasons in the elemental nations. Massacring his own clan, entering ANBU at the age of 12, his mastery over Katon jutsus, to name a few, but the most feared ability or accomplishment of his were his unparalleled Genjutsu abilities, which were only second to Uchiha Shishui.

"That won't be any problem because I have something in mind to help us with that," said Nagato.

Both of his subordinates nodded while glancing at the body of Yahiko, which was being used by Nagato right now.

His reason to use it was, that he wanted to force his chakra coils to remember how to control a path so that the ritual wasn't made impossible. Also to keep the body in movable condition because it will be used by Naruto in near future.

"Itachi, what happened about the task I gave you the day we started Naruto Kun's training?" asked Nagato while walking towards a pod of metal casing.

"No, I never got the chance and you said that I should do it just before the ritual, so I was waiting for the right time," answered Itachi.

"Oh did I? I think my memory is getting weak along with my body as well. Anyways, I wanted to ask you Konan, is everything ready for the ritual?" stated/asked Nagato.

He finally reached the pod and lied down, the pod closed with a metallic click.

"If it is, then I would like to get it over with, right now rather than later, as I am not feeling well and don't want to take any chances," stated Preta path as it rose from its resting pod from behind them.

"Everything is ready. I have gathered the blood required for the ritual from Zetsu's room. You were right about him, he is playing something else behind everyone's back" said Konan.

"I knew something was off about that _thing,_ the way he always have any information needed and never discusses about his ideas regarding all the other members. He is doing all this for his own benefit, he is neither on our side nor on Akatsuki's" wondered Itachi.

"That is true, but we've got more pressing matters at hand," interjected Konan.

"Like?" asked Itachi.

"Like what Madara intends to do with Naruto kun? I am sure that he knows about the situation as I am very sure that Zetsu already told him," said Nagato.

"That…is troubling, as Madara knows that we are training Naruto Kun, he is allowing us to do so for some reason of his own. May be he thinks that we won't be able to save him," stated Itachi while trying to understand what was going inside the head of the one eyed Uchiha legend.

"No, he knows that my rinnegan can use Rinne rebirth, which means I can bring anyone back from the dead. He must know something about rinnegan that we don't, after all, he did said that these were his eyes," theorized Nagato while looking at the window pane, watching the reflection of the legendary eyes he wielded.

"What do we do now? He is already a step ahead of us. We must do something to get a hold of the situation," asked Konan who was just observing the two shinobis on both her sides.

"What do you suggest Nagato? We can't just refuse to acknowledge that we are not trying to save Naruto," asked Itachi after failing to reach a satisfying course of action.

Preta path just walked towards the balcony of the tower and sat down on the ledge, Konan moved to stand inside the balcony while Itachi decided to take a seat on the couch in the office.

Nagato observed the rain falling on the whole village of Amegakure, he still remembered the day he taught Naruto how to perform the jutsu…

 **FLASHBACK==**

"Naruto, listen here, tell me why Amegakure is called the land of rain?" asked Nagato while both of them sat on the ledge of the balcony of Pein's office.

"Uh, because it is always raining here?" questioned/answered Naruto in a meek tone.

The boy was changing with terrifying speed. He was taking Konan's teachings very seriously.

Hell even after having all three of them always act serious around him, he was still better at making poker face then any of them.

The betrayal of Konoha had hit him hard, harder then they first thought it had. If Nagato was in any better condition, he would have leveled the whole village, just for the sake of the little Uzumaki.

"That's right but why is that?" asked Nagato again.

When Naruto shook his head, Nagato raised his hand and flicked his wrist in the air.

The rain suddenly came to a halt out of nowhere and the clouds parted to show bright blue sky with soft looking snowy clouds.

Naruto was surprised by the occurrence and turned his head towards Nagato for answers, for his unasked Questions.

Nagato just smiled and again pointed down at people in Ame's streets. Everyone had stopped his or her chores to marvel at the strange occurrence, as a clear sky was a rare thing for the people of Ame.

"Naruto, they are surprised because to them their god, who is Pein, is not maintaining the rain of Ame. It is true that it is something created by me. The Rain I make contains very tiny amount of chakra, which acts as a surveillance system. I always know who leaves and who enters the Ame at all times," explained Nagato.

"So is it necessary to learn this jutsu as well?" asked Naruto while staying calm. One could see how much he had changed during this short amount of time in Ame by the fact that he was not bouncing at the prospect of learning a new jutsu.

"Yes, now here are the hand seals…"

 **==FLAXHBACK ENDS==**

 **==PRESENT==**

"Alright, we are going through the ritual this evening, I don't want to delay it any longer. Itachi, make sure that we get _that_ help during the ritual," ordered Preta path while motioning for them to leave him alone.

Both Itachi and Konan shared a look and left to carry out their assigned duties.

'Soon my friend, soon I will be joining you in the afterlife. The only regret I'll have would be leaving Konan alone, but I trust Itachi and Naruto to look after our friend,' thought the Preta path while watching the rain-wash over the village of Ame, a smile graced his lips as he felt what his student was up to.

 **==Naruto's room==**

Naruto was sitting at the windowsill, his hands moving left to right in front of his face. He was trying to change the direction of rain by fusing his chakra in the tiny droplets of the rain.

It was a training method Nagato had suggested to increase his control over the particular jutsu as well as suiton element. His mind was blank without any thoughts regarding the future. He had come to accept that there was nothing you could do to change the future situations you will find yourself in.

Though he still believed that you could change the condition, in which you will come out of those situations.

His room's door opened and Itachi walked in, he saw what Naruto was doing but decided to ignore it.

"Naruto, the ritual room is ready, Nagato insists that you change your body this evening," said Itachi while taking a seat at Naruto's side. Naruto turned his head to look at him,

"What's on your mind?" asked Naruto, sensing Itachi's uncomforting mood.

"Is it that hard to tell?" asked Itachi while leaning back on the wall, his eyes firmly on the evening sky of Ame. Naruto glanced at him for a while, then leaned forward and placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, gaining Itachi's attention.

"It's the only way, nii-san. If there was any other way, Nagato and Konan would have tried it, I am sure," said Naruto while smiling at his brother figure.

Itachi couldn't help but stare at the boy in front of him, the same one he considered his brother.

May be Naruto was just a replacement of Sasuke in the starting, but now, he was Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi's younger brother.

"Are you alright with it?" Itachi finally asked, observing Naruto carefully for any signs of hesitation.

'None,' was the resulting thought.

"I am. If I refuse now, I am going to die soon anyways. This way I have a small chance to cheat death," answered Naruto while shifting to get down from the window. He had a ritual to take part in.

Itachi followed his movements with his sharingan for a while, finally sighing, he motioned Naruto towards the bed, Naruto compiled despite being confused.

"Naruto-kun, we are going to need as much help as we can get, especially some inner help, if you know what I mean," said Itachi while he moved to sit in a chair beside Naruto.

When Naruto nodded, Itachi continued

"Good, now we're going to negotiate with the Kyuubi, lie down."

Naruto did as told and Itachi placed his hand on Naruto's forehead while making eye contact with him.

His sharingan started to spin before suddenly morphing into its Mangekyou state.

 **==(Naruto's inner world)==**

Itachi appeared in front of the Kyuubi's cage. He examined the seal placed on the cage and couldn't help but marvel at the handy work of the late Yondaime hokage. Itachi always respected the Yondaime for his sacrifice and his feats, accomplishments.

Suddenly a set of pure blood red eyes opened behind the gates. Itachi refused to get intimidated as he felt like he was being judged for his crimes, before a growl came from the cave.

" **Teme, you are one of those bastards. You are from that clan of gifted cursed eyes,"** growled Kyuubi, sneering its fangs.

"Kyuubi, it a pleasure to meet you too," answered Itachi while keenly observing the shadow taking form behind the cage.

" **SHUT UP UCHIHA! Or I will turn you into a blood stain under my paw!,"** thundered the Kyuubi while trying to squash Itachi from inside the cage.

Itachi did even looked phased, he took a step forward,

"So the great Kyuubi has been reduced to hollow threats, I see. Such disappointment," stated Itachi.

" **THINK BRFORE OPENING YOUR MOUTH NINGEN! SHARINGAN OR NOT, I CAN STILL CRUSH YOU! Feel lucky that right now my attention is divided,"** bellowed Kyuubi while narrowing its eyes at Itachi.

"I am guessing it is that foul chakra in Naruto's chakra system which is keeping you so busy?'" asked Itachi.

Kyuubi gave no indication of answering the question and just settled on glaring daggers at the Uchiha in front of it.

Itachi just shook his head and again looked at the strongest bijuu of the world.

"If you are upset with my sharingan being active then I am sorry. For being here, it is necessary that my sharingan remains activated," he said again.

The only reaction he received was a flick of Kyuubi's right ear.

"Okay, you don't like me-" Itachi started and Kyuubi snorted at the comment.

"-and I am not a fan of your presence myself, but we have a situation here," he completed.

" **You mean the chakra of that snake? It's no match for my youki. It's just taking a little longer than expected to get rid of it. After all, I had to heal the brat as well"** spoke the Kyuubi while lying down at the floor, placing its head on its front paws.

"Yes but its taking its toll on Naruto's health. His chakra is being destroyed gradually due to the foreign chakra. Your chakra is doing no good as well," said Itachi while taking a step forward again, electing a warning growl from the beast.

" **You think I don't know that? I reside this seal, which means I know everything about the brat's body. Whatever you say there is nothing I can do right now to save the gaki,"** answered Kyuubi again, getting impatient with Itachi's reasoning methods.

"We are going to save him… along with you," stated Itachi at which the Kyuubi bared its fangs.

" **What makes you think I need you bastards to save me? I will just disperse for a while and then reform again. There is nothing for me to lose here,"** said Kyuubi, standing up and turning around to go deeper in the cage, as far as it was concerned, this conversation was over.

"It seems for a thousand years old being, you are a little lacking in knowledge of fuinjutsu," said Itachi on seeing the Kyuubi retreat in deeper part of the seal.

The Kyuubi stopped suddenly and turned it's head to look at Itachi.

Itachi decide to answer the unasked question,

"The Yondaime hokage, Naruto's father, didn't just used any regular seal on you that night. He used _Shiki Fujin_ , and from what I know, the sealing was powered by the Shinigami itself,"

When Kyuubi gave no response, Itachi again reached towards the cage and placed his hand on one of the bars.

"What makes you think you won't die with him? Your souls are intertwined with each other. Maybe your chakra will combine again to take a form, but it won't be your form, that I am sure about," he said and nearly smirked when the Kyuubi again turned to face him.

" **And what do you want from me then?"** asked Kyuubi, quite angry with the situation.

"We're going to transfer Naruto's soul, along with yours, in a new body. All I want you to do is try helping us from the inside a little," explained Itachi.

" **I heard what you had to say, now get out of here,"** said the Kyuubi and closed its eyes without giving any answer to Itachi.

 **==Real world==**

"All right Naruto, follow me. We're going to Pein's office," ordered Itachi before leaving the room, followed by Naruto.

The preparations were already made for the ritual and Preta-path was standing at the gate of his private room in Pein's office. Konan was inside doing some last minute setting of the room.

Itachi and Naruto entered the office and made a beeline to the Preta-path.

"Are you ready Naruto?" asked Preta-path while placing a hand on the young Uzumaki's shoulder

Naruto just nodded, instead of answering and entered the room. Itachi moved to follow him in but the Preta-path stopped him, on Itachi's questioning glance he asked

"Did you complete the _task_?"

"Yes, though I didn't get any satisfying answer but I am guessing it was a yes," answered Itachi. 

Preta-path nodded and entered the room along with Itachi in tow.

 **UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Zetsu appeared in the dark room. Tobi was sitting at a throne made up of wood. The Uchiha glanced at the new presence with disinterest evident in his eyes **(1)** . Zetsu walked at a leisure pace towards him while the sharingan followed him quietly.

"What is it now? You know I don't like it when you just appear here for momentary chit-chat," said the Uchiha with clear irritation in his voice.

"We have some news regarding Uzumaki," said the white Zetsu.

Tobi gave no indication of hearing his informant and continued to stare forward in darkness.

" **They are starting the ritual, I provided Konan with the blood you said. They think it is the blood of Uzumaki descendants,"** said Black Zetsu.

"Let them think that they have fooled me, once the ritual is over it would be me who will emerge victorious," said Tobi while getting up from the throne and moving towards a nearby stand.

"So, what now? What do we do?" asked white Zetsu.

"We wait, for now. Let them do what they can, after they are done with the ritual, we'll make our move, BUT just to be sure, go to Nagato's chamber. If he somehow tries to complete the ritual, kill him," answered Tobi, while placing his orange mask on his face. His lone sharingan eye spinning madly before morphing into mangekyou form. Zetsu gave a nod and started to sink back in the ground.

" **It shall be done,"** said black Zetsu before he disappeared in the floor.

'Just a couple of minutes and I'll have the most powerful weapon at my disposal, Nagato what a fool you are? You and Itachi brought me the one thing which will help me the most,' thought Tobi, while downing the Akatsuki cloak before disappearing in the darkness.

 **RITUAL ROOM**

Naruto was lying on his back with his chest bare, the seal holding the Kyuubi was visible on his abdomen. Just above his head was another futon with the body of Yahiko lying on it, their heads almost touching.

All around the room were chakra made seals with engravings that Naruto couldn't hope to decipher. On the left of Naruto were many devices beeping, showing his vitals whereas the same apparatus on Yahiko's right showed no signs of life in the body of Akatsuki's founder.

Preta path walked in along with Itachi and stood at his bedside. Konan was standing in corner of the room, ready to supply her chakra in the multiple seals engraved around the room. Itachi stood at one side and looked at Naruto without any emotion on his face.

Naruto met his eyes and help the stare for awhile then gave smallest of a nod. Itachi just broke the eye contact and decided to stare at Preta path's back, he was just standing there when one of his precious people was going to risk his life. For the first time Itachi hated his situation.

"Let's get it over with Nagato," said Naruto while lying his head back on the futon. Itachi nearly flinched at the words as he was trying to avoid the ritual as much as possible.

Preta path noticed Itachi's discomfort but decided not to comment on it. Turning towards Konan, he said" start the procedure Konan, the room must have all the seals activated for this to work."

Konan gave a nod and started to pump her chakra in the seals on the walls of the room. The effect was instantaneous as the seals started to glow light blue with all the chakra flowing through them and the room fell in a bright blue glow.

Preta path moved forward and made a ram seal with his left hand in front of his chin, concentrating. His right hand travelled to Naruto's hand and touched his temples. His eyebrows scrunched in concentration as he started the procedure.

The room was filled with chakra because if Preta path somehow lost control of the jutsu during the transfer, Naruto's soul won't be able to depart to afterlife immediately. The high chakra density of the room won't allow Naruto's astral body to move around freely. Cruel it may sound but it will give them enough time to initiate the procedure again.

Beads of sweat started to form on Naruto's forehead as he started feeling a burning sensation on his abdomen, curtsey of Kyuubi's attempts of breaking the seal.

"GAAAH…" screamed Naruto suddenly and started to thrash around on the futon. His throat felt dry and his body was burning.

"Itachi, hold him down, NOW!" said Konan as she knew that Preta path won't be able to do anything if Naruto continued thrashing like that.

Itachi moved with a sense of urgency, appearing above Naruto, he clamped down his hands on Naruto's body. Holding down his upper body with right hand on his chest and battling with his kicking legs using his left hand.

Preta path struggled to maintain the jutsu as he started to pull out Naruto's struggling soul out of his head inch by inch. Naruto's movements started to get more frantic as all his memories of thirteen years life started to come in front of his eyes. Memories he didn't knew he had, memories he had long forgotten, memories he had tried to suppress.

All the memories of the night of his birth, the fateful night of Kyuubi's massacre. The solitude of the legendary Yondaime hokage. His last words to him…

'Stay strong my son, I'll always be watching you from above. I am sorry but you won't understand anything I say right now would you? Just know this, I am proud of you'

Those words confused Naruto largely. He would have given it some more thought if it wasn't for the next memory that came crashing in his head.

'Naruto sochi, when you grow up, become a great man, just like your Tou-san, and make us both proud. Remember to always eat your vegetables, don't sleep in soaked clothes. Join the academy and study hard, stay away from bullies and fan-girls. Make sure you taste Ichiraku once a week, and-and there is so much I have to tell you but time's not on our side. Just know this, your Kaa-san loves you from her very being and will always continue to love you, even after death.'

Unknowingly a tear escaped Naruto's eyes as he muttered "K-Kaa-San!"

Itachi's eyes went wide on hearing the word, if what he thought was true and Naruto was really reliving his life from the very first hour of his life, then so help them god. Naruto will have to endure all that again. After this, he would change for sure, not for the better that is.

Unknown to any of them, Zetsu was watching the whole thing from a dark corner of the room.

' **This is bad, Nagato is really giving his all. If he keeps up that jutsu, he will surely succeed, No! IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING! I must inform Obito about this NOW,'** thought the black Zetsu, before sinking in the nearby wall hurriedly.

Appearing in front of Tobi, Zetsu quickly gave his report,

" **Nagato is succeeding in his ritual, there is no doubt he will complete the transfer, one way or another. We must take action now if we want the body for ourselves,"** stated the black Zetsu while the white half remained calm mysteriously.

Tobi suddenly stood up and glared at the white half of his subordinate.

"I told you, if he was somehow able to perform the jutsu then you will kill the real body of Pein," he said heatedly all the while concentrating hard to maintain his cool or risk losing his minion to his temper.

"Alright, I will go and kill Nagato's real body, but if Uzumaki's body was allowed to remain dead for more than necessary time then even I won't be able to save it," said the white Zetsu with a rare display of seriousness.

"JUST GO! I'll take care of Itachi and Konan while you are at it. Meet me back here within five minutes, I'll bring the body myself," ordered Tobi.

Zetsu said nothing and sank back in the shadows, leaving for Nagato's chambers to complete his task.

Tobi remained there, still glaring at the darkness of his surroundings.

'Whatever you do, Itachi. I will have that Uzumaki no matter what. Even if I have to kill all three of you,'

"But first, I must do something…" said Tobi to himself before disappearing in a swirl of air.

 **Nagato's Quarters**

Zetsu appeared just behind the apparatus of Nagato's Machinery. The said man was connected to the machine with many tubes coming from his body to the machine, whilst multiple antennas were protruding from his back.

"Such power in a husk like body, Karma has sure been bad to you, nee? Nagato," asked white Zetsu in a singsong voice.

When Nagato gave no reply it became clear that he was note noticing them right now, giving zetsu the perfect opportunity to kill the Rinnegan weilder.

"I guess this is good by to the god of Ame," said Zetsu before reaching for a tub near Nagato's heart.

Just as he was about to touch the tube, a large hand fell on his shoulder and forcefully threw him backwards in a wall.

Zetsu went flying in the wall and collided with it with so much force that any normal chunnin would have died right there. Unfortunately, Zetsu was not a regular chunnin, or a human for that matter. Debris fell on the non human Akatsuki as he lied there in the dust cloud. Opening his eyes and blinking a little to get rid of the dust in them, Zetsu slowly stood up and turned to face his attacker.

Finally focusing on the figure in front of him, White Zetsu couldn't help but grin maniacally. In front of him stood another Akatsuki member with a hand stretched out at Zetsu.

"Fancy seeing you here, but I would have to ask you to let me kill you Nagato," said White Zetsu grinning.

His answer came in form of a missile.

BOOM!

'And here I thought killing a dying Nagato would be an easy task, tsk' thought Zetsu before jumping at the path in front of him.

 **Pein's tower,**

 **Akatsuki meeting chambers**

"What is this Madara sama, why have you summoned everyone personally?" asked Deidara while playing with a clay spider sitting on his forearm.

"Everyone, even after I defeated Deidara and Hidan, some of you still had some doubts regarding Pein's disappearance. Am I wrong?" asked Tobi while keeping a keen eye on Kakuzu and Sasori.

"That was to be expected, after all, just after Leader-sama's disappearance you emerged out of nowhere, claiming to be the real leader of this organization," Kisame pointed out.

"Not to mention, your claim of being the most legendary Uchiha of elemental nation's history, hn," added Deidara after a second.

"YEAH, AND YOU HAD THE BALLS TO DISRESPECT JASHIN-SAMA,BITCH!," exclaimed an angry Hidan

"Hidan, stop swearing so casually in organization's meetings or you'll end up joining my former partners," warned Kakuzu without even sparing a glance at the said jashinist.

"WHAT?!, LOOK INTO MY EYES AND SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU LITTLE MOTHER F-" screamed Hidan before Tobi interrupted him

"ENOUGH!, think before you say useless things like that in my presence, all of you!" thundered Tobi.

This seemed to shut them up for good this time. Turning to face Sasori, who still had anything to say, Tobi answered the unasked question of the Suna puppeteer.

"Pein won't be able to leader Akatsuki anymore because, Konan and Itachi had killed him for his eyes, the rinnegan."

"THE FUCK THEY HAD, THERE IS NO WAY THAT BLUED HAIRED BITCH WOULD BETRAY LEADER-SAMA!" again shouted…. You guys know who, right?

"I don't know about that woman but I am damn sure Itachi won't do anything like that, he is too calm headed to take such a drastic action," Kisame added his two cents.

"I have worked with the Uchiha before, he may be a little too secretive but that's expected of him as an Uchiha. From what I remember, he isn't the greedy type, that's why our partnership didn't work," said Kakuzu in a monotone.

"Hn, that Uchiha may have done it, after all, he killed his whole clan in one night just to test his Mangekyou sharingan, nee Sasori senpai?" asked Deidara while leaning his head to the side to look at his partner.

"Do you have any evidence?" came the gruffly voice from the hunched figure of Sasori.

Tobi's visible eye narrowed at the puppeteer but he replied nonetheless,

"If you, or any of you all, want evidence, then go to Pein's office now. You'll find a hidden door on the left right wall, inside that secret room lies the body of your former Leader. Both of those traitors are preparing to remove the rinnegan from the corpse as we speak."

All the Akatsuki members stood there shocked, to think those two would kill Pein and use his own office to hide the body.

"Very well, let us see," Sasori was the first to speak as he started to move towards the stairs to go from twelfth floor to fifteenth, where Pein's office was located.

Kisame looked at all the other members of the organization quizzically but when Kakuzu moved to follow Sasori, it was decided. One by one all five of the Akatsuki started to move to reach pein's office.

Only Tobi remained standing there.

'I must get going as well, the Uzumaki's body must not be present when these pawns of mine reach there,' thought the Uchiha before he disappeared in a swirl.

 **With Zetsu**

Zetsu stood there panting and sweating heavily. A struggling Asura-path in front of him, completely rendered immobile by various roots coming out of the floor with multiple white Zetsu spores sticking on them, sucking his chakra dry.

"No doubt Tobi considers you to be dangerous to our plans, you certainly are one tough guy to kill. To think it would take this much work in subduing only one of your paths. I don't think I would have survived this encounter if it was your Deva-path, but it seems he is _busy_ somewhere else," said White Zetsu, still panting considerably.

The Asura-path continued to struggle with the roots as Zetsu moved forward towards a sweating Nagato's body. No matter what, Nagato couldn't risk using any of the Tendou's techniques right now, when Preta-path was doing such an important procedure.

With a flick of his wrist, a spiky vine appeared in Zetsu's hand, as he channeled his chakra in the said vine to strengthen it like a kunai. Not wasting anytime in removing to tubes from the body of his victim, he moved swiftly and with a swing of speed of lightening, he completed his task given to him by Tobi.

Blood splattered around the room as Nagato's jugular bleed profusely. Covered in the Uzumaki's blood, the grin on Zetsu's face never faltered as he detached the body from the machinery.

Tobi would need these eyes soon enough. The body must be preserved until then or atleast the eyes should. A physically challenged Uzumaki's body was of least use for his plans after all.

Zetsu grinned maniacally again as the struggling of Asura-path stopped and the body went limp in the confines of the roots.

' **It was fun to battle the rinnegan for once, even if it was just a fragment of its power,'** thought the black half of Zetsu before he started to sink back in the floor with Nagato's body draped on his shoulder.

'Too much fun…'

 **Within the Ritual room**

Everything was going as planned, Naruto had stopped thrashing after a long display of irritation and screaming. Itachi was still holding down the Uzumaki to make sure that he stayed safe, one could never tell with jutsus like this one after all. Konan was standing in the corner with a soldier pill in her mouth, her chakra was already running low.

Preta-path completing the procedure in a bit haste but reason remained unknown to both of them.

"What is it, Nagato?" asked Konan from the corner with a bit of concern in her voice.

She received no reply from the path in front of her but dismissed it as the pressure of the critical procedure. Preta-path slowly removed his hand from Naruto's forehead and turned his palm upwards. A bluish ball of misty energy appeared on the palm of his hand. Itachi and Konan's eyes went wide on the display of such a feat.

"Is that…?" asked an astonished Itachi while marveling at little ball of energy.

Preta-path only gave a strained nod instead of a vocal reply, and started to move towards the body of Yahiko on the opposite side. On his way there, Preta-path almost doubled over in pain but managed to catch himself. Itachi moved forward, alarmed by the sudden reaction, but before he could reach the path, Preta held his hand out to stop him.

Itachi reluctantly stepped back but kept his eyes focused on Preta-path just in case there was anything about to happen. Preta moved forward and was about to place the orb of energy on Yahiko's forehead but suddenly fell forward.

Both Itachi and Konan became alarmed at this as Preta's hand fell on Yahiko's forehead and he fell with a thud. Konan was about to rush forward but refrained from doing so as Itachi nodded at her and moved to aid her long time friend.

Itachi quickly activated his sharingan and morphed it to its Mangekyou sharingan, he was unable to detect any traces of chakra in the path's form. The strings of chakra attached to the chakra metal receivers of the body were dispersing into tiny particles. As long as Itachi was concerned, that wasn't supposed to happen if Nagato abandoned one of his paths. He had had the pleasure of observing that phenomenon on many occasions and if his memory served him right, then the chakra always stopped from transmitters on Nagato's back first. The last particle of chakra was supposed to travel to the Path, not disperse like this.

"What happened Itachi?!" Konan asked worriedly while observing from the side.

"I-I don't know, its like the path is completely drained of chakra, a-and the chakra is dispersing in the air," answered Itachi, unsure of what was that supposed to mean.

Konan's eyes grew wide as she realized that her childhood friend was no longer among the living. She fell to her knees, hands moving to cover her mouth, tears threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes.

Itachi saw all this and realized what had caused it.

"He's gone, isn't he?" he asked, not expecting a reply anyways.

Konan just couldn't hold her tears any longer as she started to sob. Now she was the last of the Ame trio. First Yahiko, her lover, and now her last friend, Nagato. She was left alone, alone in the world of cruelty to fend off for herself.

Itachi was tempted to help Konan in any way possible but before that, he turned his head to look at his little brother lying lifeless on the futon. His eyes grew read with guilt and emotional trauma. Fists clenched and he struggled to maintain his composure.

Before his train of thought could travel anymore, it was stopped by the appearance of a swirl in the far corner of the room. The figure of Tobi appeared out of the swirl as Itachi glared at the other Uchiha with pure contempt.

Tobi's lone sharingan eye scanned the room, lingering on all three of the Akatsuki robed figures before settling on the prone body of one Uzumaki Naruto.

A growl came out of his throat as he snarled behind his mask, his eye morphed to its Mangekyou state for a second as it started to hypnotically spin.

"What have you done? What is the kyuubi's Jinchuriki doing here?" asked Tobi with barely contained anger evident in his voice.

None of them answered the questions asked, but Tobi wasn't expecting them to. After all, he was only asking these questions to justify his upcoming actions.

"From the looks of it, its safe to say that your actions have cost us the Kyuubi," stated Tobi, personifying Madara.

"This will not go unpunished, get that inside your sorry heads. Akatsuki's plans will be held up due to this if right measures weren't taken right now," he continued.

"What do you mean?" Itachi finally asked.

Tobi glared at Itachi with pure hatred, which seemed not to phase the Uchiha prodigy.

"I'll be taking the body of the Jinchuriki with me, there must be a way to still save the Kyuubi and will not stop until I find it," said Tobi as he used his teleportation jutsu on Naruto's still body.

On seeing Naruto's body start getting sucked in a swirl, Itachi panicked

"NO! you can't do that what about-" he couldn't complete his statement as Tobi broke in

"You are hardly in any position to question my actions, still I won't say anything else as your punishers are on their way here."

Before Itachi could say anything, Tobi disappeared in a swirl as well, a smirk concealed behind his mask.

 **With the other Akatsuki's**

They had finally reached the door of the secret room and as expected, it was locked. Kisame quickly moved forward, taking the lead and kicked open the door. The door went crashing on the floor, revealing two beds with Pein lying on one of them. Konan was sitting on the floor in a corner while Itachi was supporting a unknown man's lifeless body in Akatsuki robes.

Kakuzu came pushing Kisame aside, much to the displeasure of Kisame, while others followed his example and entered the room.

"So what Madara said was true, you really have killed Leader-sama, Hn!" Deidara decided to voice everyone's thoughts.

"YOU DICKLESS, SHITHEADS, BASTARDS!, I MUST SACRIFICE YOU TO JASHIN-SAMA!" shouted Hidan already taking out his red scythe.

"Itachi, what have you done, I thought you weren't the power hungry type?" asked Kisame.

Itachi was about to retaliate but Konan stopped him

"Don't Itachi, they won't believe us," she said while standing up.

"THE HELL WE WON'T!" Hidan responded loudly.

"If you two have nothing to say then I guess this pretty much sums it up," stated Sasori in a low tone.

When none of the accused said anything, Kakuzu toke the command

"Very well then, for murdering the leader of Akatsuki, you will be dealt with accordance," he said calmly, removing his threads from their hidden spots on his body.

All the shinobi present readied themselves for the long stretched out battle that was about to come.

 **Tobi's hideout**

Tobi appeared in a swirl in front of a waiting Zetsu, who sported clear marks of a battle.

"It seems that you succeeded in taking care of that fool, good," said Tobi while moving towards his throne in the center of the hideout. Zetsu's keen eyes followed his every move with uttermost excitement. Once the Uchiha was seated on his throne, he motion for Zetsu to say what he wanted.

"I would like to remind you that the body must be tended to as soon as possible, so if you don't mind," said the white Zetsu while motioning towards an operating table in the darker corner of the hideout.

Tobi only nodded and in a swirl, Naruto's body came out of his Kamui dimension on the table.

"Appreciate that," said Zetsu as he moved to operate on the former Jinchuriki.

"Bodies of Uzumaki's were always amazing but the body of an Uzumaki Jinchuriki, I can't stop myself from shaking from excitement," exclaimed Zetsu before starting his handy work.

"Just make sure you give him everything that old man gave me, I want him to become as strong as Madara if not stronger," said Tobi before closing his eyes.

'It couldn't be any better, everything is going exactly as planned. The gears of time are moving again, couldn't be any better,' thought Tobi.

 **Pein's Office**

"DEIDARA!, you bonehead, don't use bombs in here, idiot!," shouted Kisame as he used Shamehada to deflect kunais thrown at him by Itachi who was making Hidan fight a clone and the Jashinist hadn't even noticed it.

"DIE BITCH!" shouted Hidan as he swung his scythe in crazed daze at the Itachi clone. The clone jumped back and released a small fire ball at the Jashinist

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (fire release: great fireball technique)" **(1)**

"AAHH, THAT HURTS YOU BASTARD!" shouted a burnt Hidan.

"That tends to happen when you charge head straight in a Katon jutsu," said Kakuzu from beside him, dodging a hail of paper shurikens, curtsey of Konan.

Konan was fighting Kakuzu as he was the most experienced of the lot while Itachi and his clone were handling Kisame, Deidara, Sasori and Hidan.

"You won't escape this tower alive, you know that right?" asked Sasori while maintaining his distance from the Itachi clone fighting Hidan.

"You should know that I have my reasons to do what I am doing," replied the clone while dodging yet another swing of the crazed priest.

"Very well," said Sasori before the metallic tail on his back moved at lightning speed to strike down the clone. The clone parried the strike with a kunai held firmly in hand while using another hand to make one handed hand seals.

"Suiton: Suigadan (Water release: Water fang bullet)" **(2)**

The Itachi clone shot a bullet of churning water at blinding speed which collided with the charging priest, sending him flying back in Kisame.

"Watch where you step idiot," exclaimed Kisame while somehow balancing himself.

"SHUT THE HELL UP FISH FACE!" was Hidan's smartass reply.

Kisame would have given him a piece of his mind if a fireball wasn't headed towards him.

Jumping to side to dodge the fireball, Kisame was able to jump at Itachi with a downwards slash to the chest. Sensing the incoming sword, Itachi quickly paddled backwards, narrowly missing the sharp scales of Shamehada.

"Tsche, Itachi always wanted to fight you for real but this situation is not something I expected," said Kisame while doing a 360 horizontal swing to cover his guard.

"Touché, but stay aside shushi, I have some business to settle with this red eyed freak, hn," said Deidara while throwing a pack of clay spiders towards Itachi. On seeing the incoming explosives, Itachi was tempted to Kawarimi, but one glance behind him at a struggling Konan forced him to think again.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (fire release: great fireball technique)"

Itachi shot a fireball at the spiders, efficiently getting rid of them, gaining a snarl from Deidara.

Kisame chuckled and jumped in front of Deidara,

"Step aside Blondie, he's not someone you can handle," said a grinning Kisame.

Going through his own hand seals Kisame strapped Shamehada on his back and shouted

"Suiton: Bakusui Shoha (Water release: Exploding Water Shockwave)" **(3)**

Kisame's chakra flared as he spat a wave of shockwave at Itachi.

Konan was struggling to hold her ground as Kakuzu continued to strike at her with his tendrils. She was dodging to a side when she saw Deidara throw a pack of his clay spiders at her and Itachi. She got a little worried but Itachi managed to burn them before they could reach any of them.

She was forced to jump again as Kakuzu appeared in front of her with fist at ready to pound her into the floor. Dodging the fist, she quickly formed a chain sickle using her papers, hardening it to steel's tensile using her chakra. She swung her new weapon and wrapped it around Kakuzu's neck, effectively stopping his assault on her.

Kakuzu clenched his hand on the chain sickle wrapped around his neck, but before he could get his neck out of the deadly weapon, Konan pulled it with as much force as she could muster.

Kakuzu lost his balance and was slammed down on the ground face first. If only they had more ground to fight on, he would have called out his masked beasts, but here they were, seven S-ranked criminals fighting to kill in a small room of sixty by sixty.

Growling at his own mistake of underestimating another Akatsuki, Kakuzu pulled at the chain with all his might. Though it made him bleed a bit from around his neck, he was able to loosen it up enough for him to get his neck out of its coils.

Konan immediately transformed the chain sickle into a one handed sword and readied herself for Kakuzu's next set of attacks.

"Tsche, sneaky bastard!" said Deidara as Itachi again evaded his clay bombs with Kawarimi. Kisame was about to attack again when Itachi raised a hand, motioning him to halt in his steps.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow clone technique)" said Itachi while holding a ram seal.

Two more Itachi popped in existence beside him, both had their Mangekyou activated. Before Kisame could react, one of them jumped towards him, already going through a set of hand seals,

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (fire release: great fireball technique) " exclaimed the clone before a fireball came out of his mouth, aimed at his Akatsuki partner.

Kisame was too close to dodge and his sword was on his back which will take a lot time to bring out.

"Well shit!" cursed Kisame while crossing his hands in front of him just as the fireball engulfed him.

"Ha, you really made a roasted fish out of him!" said a surprised Deidara just before he saw another fireball headed towards him.

"Oh no, not the face!" shouted Deidara as he tried to dodge to a side, receiving little burns on his ear.

The other Itachi clone quickly made his towards an unsuspecting Sasori and shot forward with a Kunai in hand, barely avoiding the metallic tail's strike to his side.

"Sneaking from behind won't work on me, Itachi," said Sasori from behind his back face mask.

Itachi gave no reply and suddenly the face mask fell from Sasori's face, revealing the face of the Puppet.

"As expected, you are hiding inside that Puppet of yours, I always thought there was something wrong with that hunched body of yours, now I know," said the clone.

"Aren't a talkative one, clone?" came the voice from within the puppet.

"We shadow clones have our own personalities, you can't blame me if I am not like the real one over there," replied the clone while motioning towards the real Itachi who was fighting Deidara.

"Thanks for letting me know which one of you is the real one," said Sasori just as the clone's eyes grew wide from surprise.

Apparently, Sasori had his tail move slowly over the head of the clone while he was talking to him as a distraction. The clone had no time to dodge as the tail struck him, successfully dispelling him at the same spot.

Once dispelling the clone, Sasori moved to save Kisame's ass because according to his judgment, Hidan was too much of an idiot to be saved.

Kisame was busy fending off the Kunai strikes delivered by Itachi's clone. He was literally smoking from his skin after getting toasted by that last fireball. Luckily Shamehada was doing its job perfectly by defending him as well as healing him with its chakra at the same time.

Just as he thought he won't be able to handle Itachi any longer a tail came in his field of vision at lightning speed and attacked the Itachi clone. The clone sensing the danger jumped back while parrying the strike of the tail with a kunai held firmly in his hand.

The tail deflected the Kunai to a side and continued on its path. The clone tried to dodge the strike aimed at his heart but the tail caught him in his side, dispelling the clone.

"Thanks, nearly had my ass smoked there," thanked Kisame while using Shamehada to support himself.

"We have things to do, some traitors to deal with," said Sasori before moving towards the real Itachi,

"You go get Hidan out of that situation over there, I'll handle the real one," said Sasori before moving to join Deidara.

Kisame looked over Kakuzu and saw that he saw fairing nicely against the woman, turning his head towards Hidan's last known location he nearly fell on the floor.

Hidan was hanging from the wall in a large cross with Kunai's sticking from his hands and feet while several shurikens were sticking out of his abdomen.

He was currently busy spewing curses at the clone in front of him. His course of action decided, Kisame shot towards Hidan's opponent.

Soon the last clone of the Uchiha prodigy was defeated, resulting in Itachi being over powered by the four Akatsuki members.

"TAKE THIS!" shouted Hidan as he punched an exhausted Itachi in the face, sending him flying in the wall behind him. Itachi crumbled down on the floor with his back to the wall.

"Serves you right, Teme, hn," said Deidara as he formed a larger then average spider from his clay.

"I don't know why you did it but you'll have to pay for what you have done to Leader-sama," said Kisame while swinging his sword to get the feeling back in his sore shoulders.

"I never expected such foolish actions from you Itachi. These three here, I may not have been surprised if it was these three on the floor, but you? Not you Itachi," said Sasori, already suspecting that something was off.

No sooner than that Konan came flying from behind them and crashed in Itachi's chest, both of them fell in a crumbled heap.

Kakuzu came forward from behind Sasori and stepped forward,

"Kisame, Hidan, ready your swords, it's the time of Judgment," said Kakuzu while both the swordsmen drew their swords. Kisame was hesitating a little but he soon steeled his resolve.

Both of them came forward and raised their swords above their heads, ready to deliver the final strike.

Just as the swords came down, suddenly everyone felt the most powerful killing intent they had ever felt in their lives.

Konan opened her eyes and saw two swords paused in mid-swing whereas Itachi only coughed a little.

The standing Akatsuki members were rooted to their feet, just as they were about to turn, a commanding voice rang throughout the room.

"ENOUGH!"

 **TO BE CONTINUED!**

 **Yeah, yeah, I know it's a mean cliff hanger but I can't help it the plot required this cliffy for the proper representation of this story.**

 **Now I am starting a new thing here, I was planning to start Omakes but that will have to wait another chapter.**

 **:::ADDITIONAL CLASS:::**

 **PRETA:-** The word _PRETA_ in PRETA-PATH is derived from Indian language Hindi word 'Preta', which means ghost or in some cases bad male spirits.

 **ASURA:-** the word _ASURA_ in ASURA-PATH is derived from the same language word 'Asura', which means Demon or superhuman with dark powers.

 **That's it wait for next chapter for more**

 *****Jutsu Library*****

 **(1)Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (fire release: great fireball technique)**

 **Type:** C-rank, Offensive, Close range (0-5m)

 **Users:** Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Obito.

Utilizing a high amount of chakra, the user creates a large ball of flames. When an Uchiha clan member masters this jutsu, he\she is recognized as an adult.

 **(2) Suiton: Suigadan ( Water release: Water fang bullet)**

 **Type:** B-rank, offensive, short range(0-5m)

 **User:** Uchiha Itachi

Using a large amount of chakra, user converts it into a bullet of churning water and spats it in the desired direction.

 **(3)** **Suiton: Bakusui Shoha (Water release: Exploding Water Shockwave)**

 **Type:** unknown Probably B-rank, offensive, supplementary, short to mid-range(0-10m)

 **User:** Hoshigaki Kisame

converting

 **so guys, continue to fav/follow 'The Return of Pein' and don't forget to review 'cause like I said above, reviews are like my coke cans helping me write for you all!**

 **Also please tell me what you think about the new ADDITIONAL CLASS thing, I'd love to hear from u!**

 **Ja Ne!**

 **(NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799)**

THE HUMBLE AUTHOR


	3. Taking back the control

**As promised, here is the third installment of 'THE RETURN OF PEIN' and yes, u can tell me that u love me whenever u want, I don't mind cause I am an open minded guy as evident from my imagination (Chest swelled out). Some answers that I would like to give:-**

 **Helrio uzugaku mentioned that I ruined the path system by using Preta path in the way I did. That review also suggested that I should have used both Preta and Deva paths. Here's the answer:** I don't know! From what I have seen (and read), Deva only has control over 'Gravity'. He uses all gravity-based attacks so I find it hard to understand how I could have used it in the soul transfer, maybe you confused Deva with Narka or someone? Yet, I am sure you had your reasons and explanation for your advice and I appreciate it, but I fail to understand your theory. My fault I guess, anyways keep reading and reviewing, constructive criticism is always welcome in my stories.

 **X3runner questioned about the relationship of Konan and Pein. Here's the answer:** you'll find this chapter pointing in that direction as well and it may answer some of your questions. Regarding the soul fragments, I never planned anything for those but now I have an idea, you'll just have to wait and see/read, won't disclose it here (Grin). I must say this, I freak'n loved your 'Naruto2.0' concept, I don't know why but I found it hilarious. Thanks again and continue reading and reviewing. In addition, I am not a fan of Conan the Barbarian so I don't know which joke you wrote about but please do PM me and I shall see what I can do.

 **A guest found it against his ideals that Itachi was so brotherly with Naruto, 'why would he care so much for Naruto and so little about Sasuke?' this was the question. Here's the answer:** if you're talking about the official series, then he did everything for that duck butt! I mean come on man, he even planned his own death so that Sasuke could get his revenge. Itachi always wanted the good for Sasuke and the Edo tensei Itachi made it clear. If you're talking about 'THE RETURN OF PEIN', it's just in the starting phase man, you'll in future what are his feelings regarding Sasuke.

 **A punk tried to say that chapter 2 was full of clichés. Here's the answer:** I admit that once I finished chapter 2, I had little time to re-read it for correction still I did as best as I could in that small time. I decided to delete your review because for a guy complaining about clichés, your own review had spell problems, but you deserve a reward as I have received around 150 reviews on this site, about fifty are flames, but your review was the first one that I deleted. Peace! Oh and please register, guest reviews are always a pain, they criticize, ask questions, yet you can't message them back. Most of my friends of this site were made via reviews and PMs.

 **Naes151-thor94-Crazywizard73-neko Iron Gauntlet and many others:** I read all the reviews you guys took your time to post, thanks for the support and just so you know, I considered each n every idea or suggestion given, we'll see what happens, right?

 **Enough with the silly talk and here you go…**

 **DISCLAIMER: …..Why should I write anything when I don't own it?**

**CHAPTER-3**

 **TAKING BACK THE CONTROL**

 **(Previously on [The Return of Pein])**

"Kisame, Hidan, ready your swords, it's the time for their Judgment," said Kakuzu while both the swordsmen drew their swords. Kisame was hesitating a little but he soon steeled his resolve.

Both of them came forward and raised their swords above their heads, ready to deliver the final strike.

Just as the swords came down, suddenly everyone felt the most powerful killing intent they had ever felt in their lives.

Konan opened her eyes and saw two swords paused in mid-swing whereas Itachi only coughed a little.

The standing Akatsuki members were rooted to their feet, just as they were about to turn, a commanding voice rang throughout the room.

"ENOUGH!"

 **(Continued)**

 **KONOHAGAKURE NO SATO**

 **Council chambers**

"Why have you summoned us all here, Tsunade?" asked Koharu while she eyed the Slug princess with a little irritation clearly shining in her eyes. Beside her sat her husband and teammate Hamura. His eyes were fixed firmly on the clenched fists of one Senju Tsunade while said woman struggled to keep her somewhat uncontrollable emotions in check.

Speaking of elders, we can't just ignore the old war veteran, Shimura Danzo, now can we?

Danzo was not even glancing at any council member as well as the Hokage, his calculative gaze was focused solely on the Toad Sennin standing behind the Hokage.

Danzo may have been able to train emotionless shinobi of high caliber but he was still capable of catching the tiny bits of emotional leaks a shinobi's body language provided. The same thing was going on with Jiraiya, if Danzo's observation was correct.

He won't waste his time dwelling on it much as it was clearly the reason why Tsunade had called this sudden council meeting.

"Shut up Advisor," growled Tsunade in a barely controlled anger, much to the surprise of the whole council.

Koharu's eyes grew wide at the uncharacteristic reply from Tsunade, she sputtered and tried to come up with a quick shot back but failed miserably.

Ignoring the advisor, Tsunade turned in her chair to look at all the council members. She glared at the civil council but continued nevertheless.

"I didn't want to disclose this information in the presence of civil council but I am sure it would have reached them by the end of the day anyways," at this, she stopped and glared at her advisors, who glared back as if challenging her to prove the indirect blame.

Snaring, she continued

"The reason I called you all today is to announce that Konoha has lost one of our promising genins,"

Everyone started to look at each other and gave her a confused look.

"Who are you talking about?" asked Hamura while looking at her with interest filled eyes.

"One of the ninjas I sent on the failed Uchiha retrieval mission, his na-" before he could continue Koharu jumped in

"Don't sprout nonsense Tsunade, we saw the retrieval teams reports, everyone had been discharged from the Hospital with full recovery."

Tsunade glared at the councilor but before she could say anything, another voice spoke up, preventing her from doing so.

"Uzumaki," murmured Danzo while his visible eye narrowed dangerously.

"What?" asked Koharu turning to glance at the war hawk.

"Uzumaki Naruto never returned from that mission, isn't that right, Hokage?" stated/asked Danzo with a grim expression on his face.

Tsunade didn't acknowledged his question but stated her own statement,

"Uzumaki Naruto never _made it back_ from that mission would be more suitable, won't you say Danzo?"

At this Danzo only stared at her with what dangerously alike to judgment in his eyes, before nodding.

"WHAT! That means that- that _boy_ went rogue?! We must deploy Hunter-nins after that…that thing!" shouted a civilian councilor while waving his hands frantically in front of his face.

"Shut up civilian, do you even have any idea what type situation this will get Konoha in?" growled Inazuka Tsume.

"What? What Tenshi san said is right, we must celebrate this occasion with the demon's execution!" interjected a civil councilwoman.

"What makes you think that the boy didn't went rogue while on that mission?" asked Hyuga Hiashi, completely ignoring the shouts of the civilian side of the council.

"We have proof of Naruto's passing," said Tsunade while turning towards the ANBU at the chamber gates.

"Send in Hatake Kakashi," she ordered, the ANBU nodded and left the chambers to fetch the sharingan wielder.

"What do you mean Passing Hokage sama?" asked Hamura while Koharu continued to glare at Tsunade.

Paying no head to the blatant glare of Koharu, Tsunade decided to humor Hamura,

"Uzumaki Naruto was declared KIA, which means Konoha just lost its Jinchuriki because of the last Uchiha's defection."

"Well it was your fault clearly, sending someone like _him_ after an Uchiha was a foolish action on your part Tsunade. The result was inevitable and you can't deny it," stated Koharu gaining nods of approval from the civil side of council.

Before Tsunade could retort, Kakashi came strolling inside the chambers in a calm pace. Stopping in front of Tsunade, he gave a deep bow while sending a curt nod towards Jiraiya, who just scowled.

"You called?" he asked as his bored looking eye expertly scanned the surrounding people of the council. Anyone else would find nothing out of ordinary in the looks and posture of the famed Sharingan no Kakashi, but those who knew him closely noticed the lack of his orange book, the overly tiredness in his shoulders and the patch of grass and dirt on his pant knee. Clearly the Cyclops was at the cemetery before being summoned by the Hokage.

"Yes, Kakashi would you be kind enough to share your findings at the valley of end, with the _council,_ " she said the last word with disdain dripping clearly.

Hamura remained impassive while Koharu glared at the Godaime. Kakashi nodded and started,

"I was ordered to track down the last battle of the retrieval team in order to provide backup and reinforcement to the mission. When I used my summon hound, Pakun, I was able to pin point the location of Uchiha Sasuke at the valley of end."

"After that, I used my top speed to reach the valley but just before I could reach the valley, an explosion rocked me down a tree. Its eye point was focused at the valley as I deduced. Finally when I reached the valley, there I found the charred remains of Uzumaki Naruto's jacket while the said genin was nowhere in sight. I also found the beaten and damaged hatai-ate of one Uchiha Sasuke." Finished Kakashi with his shoulders going sloppy.

"It doesn't mean that the Kyuubi is dead! For all we know, he must have left after realizing how pathetic he was when compared to Uchiha Sasuke!" said a civilian while other started to give their approvals.

Tsunade scowled but stated anyways,

"I knew that you fools would think along that track, that's why I have the ultimate evidence to prove his death, Jiraiya!" exclaimed Tsunade while tilting her head a little to signal the toad Sennin to come forward.

Jiraiya moved forward and started to go through a series of hand seals that many of the shinobi present recognized right away.

" **Kuchinose no Jutsu(Summoning justu)"**

A puff of smoke erupted in the middle of the room as a small toad revealed himself. The toad that appeared was green and had a white goatee with a cane, a grey cloak was draped around his body. The toad glared at all the people present before glancing at Tsunade,

"Greetings Tsunade-chan!" Fukasaku greeted and got reply from Tsunade in the form of a nod, accompanied a small smile.

Turning towards Jiraiya, the toad asked

"What do you need Jiraiya-chan?"

Jiraiya gave a small node of respect to the toad before answering

"It's about the Naruto incident, Paa," Jiraiya stated with a grim look in his eyes.

Fukasaku nodded and turned to face the council,

"As the elder toad of the clan of toads, I am always aware of our summoners. I only wish Naru-chan had summoned one of us to help him in his battle, the outcome could have been very different," he said.

One of the brave council man started

"How can you say that the brat is dead, not a deserter?"

Fukasaku sighed and started to answer the dump civilan

"Because whenever a toad or a summoner dies, the records at mount Myubaku are automatically updated due to the sudden disappearance of Chakra. Naru-chan's name disappeared at the very same day of his final battle."

"Is this summoning register of yours ever tested on a summoner? Because Jiraiya was the first summoner of your kind and he is yet to grace the heavens with his presence," asked Danzo.

They may have some disputes but Danzo respected the hermit for his accomplishments in his shinobi life.

"It seems your memory is no longer serving you correctly, Danzo-dono because if mine serves me right, I think Minato-kun was a toad summoner as well, and to answer your unasked question, yes Minato's name also disappeared after the Kyuubi's attack," answered Fukasaku.

Danzo nodded and turned to look at his fellow advisors,

"It seems that Konoha has indeed lost its Jinchuriki in his last mission and now due to this new development, our position as the greatest hidden village is at risk," he said while throwing slight glances towards the civilian council side.

"That's why I am declaring Uchiha Sasuke as a A-ranked missing nin of Konoha!" said Tsunade.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS HOKAGE-SAMA?! He is the last Uchiha we've got!" shouted a councilwoman while other civilians started to raise their hands in her support.

"He defected! I think the Shinobi side of the council will agree with me when I say that Hokage-sama's decision is justified and fully supported by shinobi clans!" said Yamanaka Inoichi.

First Akimichi Chouza, then Inazuka Tsume and Aburame Shibi stated their consent, then Nara Shikaku and Hyuga Hiashi joined them as well.

Koharu smirked as she looked at the council and then at Tsunade's frowning face,

"It seems that the decision depends upon us, the advisors," she said while glancing towards her husband.

"I am against," she gave her vote first.

"Same goes for me," said Hamura, making Koharu to smirk victoriously.

"I support the decision," came the surprising vote of Danzo.

On receiving the questioning looks from all over the council chambers, he decided to elaborate his reasons.

"I know that Uchiha Sasuke is the last potentially loyal Uchiha of Konoha, but his thirst for power is unquenchable, he will do anything to gain power, killing his own teammate and a fellow ally is not out of his accomplishments as evident. I say he is too unstable to get special treatment, from what I know, he is more power hungry than Uchiha Itachi ever was. If you want a repeat or worse, an upgraded version of Uchiha massacre in Konoha, feel free to invite him to pull an Itachi on you."

Murmurs started throughout the councilors as everyone started to consider what Danzo had pointed out. It was indeed a valid point but they still couldn't just declare a bounty on Sasuke.

Finally, the decision was made, Konoha will send their own hunter-nins after the Uchiha while keeping his name away from bingo books at the same time. If Sasuke posed a threat to the village, he will be terminated, otherwise, Konoha will judge him for his _mistakes, not crimes_ according to the advisors.

"Now I would like to propose that we engrave Uzumaki Naruto's name on the great stone of cemetery," said Tsunade with a heavy heart.

"What do you mean Tsunade? You yourself said that other villages shouldn't find out about Konoha losing its Jinchuriki! We shall do nothing like that!" said Koharu as she glared at the council for support which civilian side was more than happy to provide her.

"Tsunade, I am not against your proposition, but there is nothing we can do regarding this," said Hamura while trying hard to get past the headache that was sure to come.

"I think we should drop the subject of the Jinchuriki, he is dead and there is nothing we can do about it. His body wasn't recovered which makes it meaningless to make a grave or engrave his name anywhere. Death of a village's Jinchuriki should always remain a secret," said Danzo. And so, it was decided that the shinobi forces will be informed that Uzumaki Naruto was on a foreign mission.

Soon the meeting ended and the whole village was celebrating the so-called guarded secret by the end of the day.

 **NOW FOR THE MOST AWAITED PART**

 **Akatsuki tower,**

 **Pein's office**

"ENOUGH!"

Thundered a voice from behind the Akatsuki members, forcing them to turn around slowly.

Behind them stood two figures, the moon light coming from the office window was making it impossible for them to be recognized. They were practically glowing in the bask of the moon light which gave them a mysterious appearance.

Slowly but surely, both the figures started moving forward and revealed their faces to the Akatsuki members.

Madara and a white Zetsu clone.

Kakuzu spun on his heel to face the new leader of the organization, keeping his calm gaze on the orange mask of Madara. Hiraku (Sasori's puppet) turned around and addressed him in a gruff voice.

"What are you playing at?"

"Yeah, this bitches killed Leader-sama, the deserve a pain full death for killing Pein, Hn," were the mad bombers words.

Kisame quickly chuckled

" _pain_ ful death for killing _Pein,_ hehe," joked Kisame but quickly shut his mouth at the glare Madara sent him.

Sighing, Madara moved forwards to stand between Pein's body and the members, the Zetsu clone quietly followed him.

Peeking at the defeated forms of Konan and Itachi on the ground from the gaps in the standing akatsukis, Madara smirked behind his mask.

'Perfect, now to deal with these fools,' thought Madara before composing himself.

"OI SHITHEAD, WHAT THE FUCK?"

 **FLASHBACK**

"Naruto, today I am going to tell you about all the other members of Akatsuki," stated Konan while staring at Naruto who was busy stuffing his face with as much food as his mouth could take. Shaking her head, she continued to observe her student while he finished his lunch.

Itachi was trying very hard to make Naruto as powerful as possible in the given time, according to Naruto, he was a slave driver when it comes to physical training. Fortunately, Naruto was an Uzumaki, a very special one at that, who could take all that punishment and still stand for more.

Finishing his meal, Naruto quickly downed some water from his canteen and wiped his face clean using a tissue handed to him by Konan.

"Alright, I am ready for the class," announced Naruto while focusing on Konan completely, another trait you couldn't have found in the old Uzumaki Naruto.

Nodding at Naruto, Konan took out a file from under the desk, titled 'Unauthorized'. She quickly opened it and a photo appeared on top.

The photo showed Yahiko A.K.A the Deva path of pein.

Name: Pein

Shinobi rank: SS-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 01 –leader

Visual traits: spiky orange hair, six piercings on nose six on each ear and two under the lowerlip, metallic purple eyes with multiple concentric rings.

more information confidential

Naruto read as he went over the information about his soon to be alias.

"I take that Nagato is training you in the ways of Pein?" asked Konan while moving over to the next page.

Naruto only nodded as he was too much interested in the file.

The photo showed a large man with a cloth covering his head, he also had a mask on his face.

Name: Kakuzu

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 02 –Treasurer

Visual traits: long black hair, dark skin color, red eyes with green pupils.

more information confidential

"Alright let me tell you about Kakuzu, he is the one with most experience under his belt and from what I know, he once faced Shodai Hokage in battle and lived to tell the tale so yeah he is worthy of his position no 2," said Konan while trying to scrap out more information about Kakuzu from her head. She continued after a couple of seconds.

"Yes, he loves money and knows about every ninja in the elemental nations with high bounties on their head. He is the silent type but can be easily irritated, that's why he had killed his last two partners," stated Konan, completing Kakuzu's intro.

Naruto listened intently and then turn the page to look at the next Akatsuki.

The photo showed a younger Uchiha Itachi, sharingan activated with a Boar ANBU mask on his head, wearing standard Konoha ANBU uniform complete with arm guards and tanto.

Name: Uchiha Itachi

Shinobi Rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 03 –Genjutsu specialist

Visual Traits: Long jet black hair, a low pony tail, two scar like marks on both cheeks.

More information confidential

"You already know Uchiha Itachi but I will tell you some things that matter about him," said Konan while Naruto continued to look at the photo.

"Itachi is the loner or you can say the calmest member of Akatsuki, his partner is Kisame and he likes pokey, lots of pokey because his groceries are always half filled with those pokey sticks. Probably the most loyal and trustable member as well as secretive one at that but you already know that."

Naruto just chuckled hearing this and turned towards the file.

The photo showed Konan in her shinobi gear without the cloak

Name: Konan

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 04 –advisor

Visual traits: silver blue hair, piercing under lower lip and on the navel , dark amber eyes with a origami flower in hairs.

More information confidential

"Now, about me, I like paper, origami especially. I am partnered with Pein which means I will be your partner in your future missions as pein," Konan gave a suspiciously short intro but Naruto just nodded.

He will find more about her soon after becoming her partner.

There were two photos, one showed a red head young boy while the second one displayed a strange face.

Name: Sasori

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 05 –poison specialist

Visual traits: Red hair, Small height, Dark red eyes.

Visual traits of Hiraku: Black facemask, Hunched figure, Titanium tail protruding from the back.

More information confidential

"Sasori prefers to stay in his puppet Hiraku, that's why there are two types of visual traits for Sasori." Konan informed Naruto as Naruto again turned to observe the photos in front of him.

Konan observed him without saying anything for a minute, and then she continued,

"Sasori's own body is that of a puppet, he thinks that turning people in puppets increases their beauty. His patience is thin and can get restless in a matter of seconds, but never underestimate someone like him. He once took over a small country in a single night, using only his puppets. If his opponent is worthy, he makes a puppet out of them after defeating them, I think he has around hundred of those."

Naruto's eyes grew wide on hearing this piece of information regarding his soon to be subordinate. Sasori was sure going to become a useful guy in his goals for the future.

The photo showed a grinning Kisame who Naruto had met when he came to Konoha with Itachi.

Name: Hoshigaki Kisame

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 06 –The brute (tail less bijuu)

Visual traits: Dark blue hair, large frame, fish like white eyes, a large sword on the back.

More information confidential

"You have already met Kisame so I'll tell you some important facts about him, Kisame loves the thrill of battle and shall do anything to get a tough fight. His sword, Shamehada, is one of the legendary swords of Kirigakure and is very loyal to him," Konan lectured as Naruto continued to file the information for later use.

"He is a bonehead but if you get his loyalty, there is nothing he won't do for you," said Konan with some pressure in her words, receiving a nod of understanding from Naruto as he turn the page.

The photo showed a man in his early thirties with pale skin and bare chest, a scowl evident on his face.

Name: Hidan

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 07 –The Priest

Visual traits: Light silver flowing hair, red-purple eyes, a necklace with the symbol of Jashinism, a strange three bladed red scythe.

More information confidential

"Who is he?" asked Naruto while pointing at Hidan in the photo.

"That is Hidan, the immortal. He ranks no seven only because of his childish behavior and loud mouthed speeches. If he was someone like let's say, Itachi, then he would rank number two. Only pein can take him down without any risk," informed Konan as she continued to debrief Naruto.

"To kill a target, all he needs is a drop of blood of the opponent and then he uses a strange ritual of Jashinism to inflict damage on himself, which is reflected on the victim. Being immortal himself enables him to survive fatal blows, his victims, on the other hand are not so lucky, resulting in the victim's death," said Konan, completing her explanation.

Naruto audibly gulped at the dangerousness of this guy, to think he was immortal and could kill you with a mere scratch.

On noticing Naruto's uneasiness, Konan tried to help him a little.

"Don't worry, he's on our side and as I have heard, 'no one is perfect' which implements on Hidan accurately as he is powerful but his attitude of brash actions and out bursts balances it down perfectly," she said while hiding a smile.

Nodding his head towards Konan, Naruto noticed how her lips turned upwards for a fraction of a second before her face went emotionless.

"Konan-san, you should smile more often, a smile suits you better than that an emotionless visage," stated Naruto absentmindedly.

Konan suddenly stiffened and turned her head to look at the photo of Pein in the papers she held.

'Ya Know Konan! You should smile more often, it suits you! Right Jiraiya sensei, Nagato?'

A sentence that once escaped Yahiko's lips came flooding into her mind, along came a bright photo of Yahiko, smiling at her with eyes squeezed shut while his orange spiky hair flowed with the wind.

'Konan, you could try to smile more, at least for me, for Yahiko. I can't bear with this Konan who you have become, I want my friend back.'

This was what Nagato said to her that night, before Madara attacked him.

"Yahiko" Konan whispered under her breathe, trying to control the tears threatening to fall.

"Who?" asked Naruto as he tried to duck his head under her face to see hers.

Pushing away the curious blond, Konan composed herself and straightened up while Naruto continued to give her confused glances.

"Alright, enough talk, move on to number eight, come on," Konan said while trying to appear as normal as her situation allowed.

Taking a long lasting glance at her face, Naruto begrudgingly turned his head to look at the next Akatsuki profile.

The photo showed a blond with pursed lips, glaring at the viewer with irritation.

Name: Deidara

Shinobi rank: S-rank

Akatsuki Rank: 08 –Explosion specialist (the mad bomber)

Visual traits: bright yellow blond hair, high pony tail with a strand covering one eye, left telescopic eye, mouths one both hands, blue eyes.

More information confidential

"Deidara, Iwa's former mad bomber, he was recruited by Itachi. Sasori reported that Itachi totally destroyed him that's why he holds a deep hatred for the Uchiha. Thinks that blowing everything to bits is a work of art, uses doton style ninjutsu to make clay based explosive creatures, all in all, a useful arrogant barely man who just wants to play with his clay toys," summed up Konan without a pause.

Naruto only looked at her with wide eyes with a dumbfounded expression, but finally responded with the most intelligent words

"Eeww, those mouths are gross!"

Nodding towards the file, Konan motioned Naruto to turn the page.

The photo showed Zetsu glaring at something in his hand while his cactus like trap was opened slightly.

Name: Zetsu

Shinobi rank: unranked

Akatsuki Rank: 09 –The spy

Visual traits: Half-white half-black, one green eye while other one a yellow orb, crossbreed between a human and a cactus.

More information confidential

"Long thing in short, he is the only one loyal to Madara, he reports to Madara only and can infiltrate any place in the world as long as it has a floor…or a wall. We suspect that he has his own alternative motives behind all this but we are still not sure," Konan told Naruto while she surprised herself by realizing how little she knew about the strange member.

Turning the next page, Naruto came face to face with his future enemy.

The photo showed a man in an orange mask of swirl's design, a hood drawn over his head while a lone sharingan announced its presence from behind the mask via the single hole in it.

Name: Tobi

Shinobi rank: Unknown

Akatsuki Rank: 10 –The joker

Visual traits: Dark short hair, orange swirl mask with single eye hole, suspected to have a single sharingan eye.

More information confidential

"This is Tobi A.K.A. Uchiha Madara, his real shinobi rank at the time of his supposed death was SS, from what I think, once the news of his return gets out in the shinobi world, it will be raised to SSS. He is the master mind of every large event of power that had occurred in the last twenty years…including Kyuubi's rampage at Konoha," Konan hesitated before completing her sentence.

 **FLASHBACK ENDS**

"…THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" shouted Hidan as he pointed his scythe at Madara with murder his eyes.

When all the standing members of the organization started to stare at him, expecting an answer for their questions, Madara ended his thoughts and turned to answer them.

"What I mean is that yes, they must be punished for their actions against Pein, against the Akatsuki. What I don't want is wasting good opportunities, Kakuzu, you can get two strong hearts out of these two, the heart of an Uchiha such as Itachi would be ideal for your Katon mask."

Kakuzu just gave it a thought and nodded, making Madara to smile behind his mask, turning to look at the other scientist of the organization, he continued

"Sasori, I am sure Konan's paper style ninjutsu will be just as useful to you as Itachi's Uchiha prowess, after you turn them into your trustworthy puppets, that is."

Sasori turned to glance at the fallen pair and contemplated the proposal. On one hand he will get the most powerful prodigy of Uchiha clan and a rare type of ninjutsu, on the other hand he will be violating some of his own rules.

"The offer is quite tempting I will give you that, but I respect Uchiha Itachi too much to turn him into a mindless puppet, no thanks," answered Sasori while everyone around him gave him a surprised look.

Madara frowned a little but then smirked again,

"Then I guess they will be given to Hidan for his ritual, if you are willing to take them," he said, glancing at Hidan who suddenly started to grin from ear to ear.

"HELL YEAH, two powerful shinobi such as these two will definitely impress JASHIN-SAMA!"

"As for the Itachi's Mangekyou, I can find some us for it. So everyone content with this punishment?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

When everyone gave their consent one by one, Madara started to grin behind his mask. These fools were playing in his hands just the way he wanted.

'Mere pawns….' Thought Madara as he nodded towards all of them.

"Alright then, Zetsu will take the hearts and eyes out, you all are welcome to see the procedure if you please as I guess there is no point in delaying…?" he asked slowly but when no one objected, he continued.

"Zetsu, will you please do the honor!" stated Madara as he motioned behind his back towards the white Zetsu clone standing behind him, near pein's body.

He waited…

And waited…

And waited….

Turning around with all the other Akatsukis, Madara came face to face with an overwhelming sight.

The white Zetsu clone stood there, eyes widened a look of shock on his usually grinning face. He tried to gulp, that's right he _tried_ , as the strong grip of a clenched hand on his neck from behind prevented him from succeeding.

"What?!" the Zetsu squeaked out as the hand around his neck started to tighten its grip. Zetsu's hand quickly shot upwards towards his neck to try and somehow escape from the death grip. Struggling with the amazingly strong hand, the Zetsu started to lose the sight of other Akatsukis in front of him.

"Gluck…" struggled the clone before the hand crushed his neck, destroying the spinal cord with one swift crunch.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Shouted Madara but was unluckily ignored.

The eyes of the clone rolled upwards as his world went dark, tongue sticking out with hands slinging limply on his side. Before anyone to utter any more words, the body of the clone was torn in half with pure brute strength of his killer's hands.

The clone's body reduced to shreds, revealing glowing purple eyes of death himself, the killing intent was suffocating. Everyone was forcefully rooted to their places as they struggled to stay vertical, knees bucking under the tremendous pressure.

Six piercings on nose

Six piercings on each ear

Two piercings under the lower lip

Shiny orange unruly spiky hair

Pein

"LEADER-SAMA!" cried Hidan as he was about to make a mad dash towards the said man but one sharp look of those godly eyes stopped him dead in his tracks.

Those orbs scanned the room thoroughly, meeting the gaze of each and every Akatsuki standing, before falling on the two downed forms of Itachi and Konan.

Confusion crossed the rinnegan, which then turned into anger and then in pure fury. The Killing intent already seemingly on impossible heights increased ten folds.

"What. Is. The. MEANING OF THIS?!"

'Pein, how is it possible? No it can't be, he can't be alive?' were the questions that crossed the mind of one Uchiha Madara.

The bandages wrapped around Pein's body started to turn crimson due to the bleeding caused by the use of strength just after the ritual.

"Leader-sama, your bandages!" said Kisame as he pointed towards the crimson bandages coving Pein's chest and torso.

"It's nothing Kisame," said the Akatsuki leader before again glancing at Itachi and Konan.

"Take them to the medic bay on the lower level, tell the doctor that if they aren't recovering in half an hour I'll show him why am considered a god," ordered Pein as Kisame shuffled to pick the duo on the ground.

Just as he was picking up Konan, she groaned a little in pain.

"EASY!" warned Pein as his eyes were following every moment made by the shark look alike.

Lifting them carefully and slinging them on his shoulder, Kisame gulped and gave a short bow to Pein, even though it looked like a nod. Kisame quickly exited the room, a sudden urgency in his pace.

Pein turned to glare at the remaining Akatsuki before focusing his gaze at Kakuzu who stared back at him with little fear evident in his eyes and expressions.

"Start talking!" ordered Pein as he started to glare at Madara who was still thinking the reasons behind these sudden unlikely developments.

"After you disappeared, the organization was in shambles, no one knew how to function as an organization as we all are used to working under your command. So, Tobi revealed himself as Uchiha Madara and took control of the Akatsuki. We may have protested but with your disappearance, I decided that it was the best course of action," said Kakuzu.

"Then today Madara came to us a while ago and informed us that you were dead and it was Itachi and Konan who killed you for their own benefits. Instinctively we attacked," completed Sasori while Deidara was finding his hand a lot more interesting than Pein's intense gaze.

"I…see," said pein as he started to think a little.

Gathering his thoughts was proving to be quite a chore for him right now. All these thoughts, these memories flooding his brain were just overwhelming. His head was throbbing without a pause and he was finding it difficult just to stand. The display of power that he presented earlier was a necessity to show that Pein was still in fighting condition, should Madara decided to challenge him.

Observing the man in front of him with shock Madara finally decided to make his presence known.

"How in the world are you alive?! I saw you die, Konan was doing some type of operation on you!" he asked, cleverly asking his intended question and covering for him as well at the same time.

Turning his head to look at the masked shinobi, Pein failed to hide the scowl that appeared on his face.

"I never died, I think it's sufficed to say that I was suffering from some disease and was incapacitated for a while. As for the operation performed by Konan, it was for the betterment of my health, which succeeded if me standing here is any indication. Itachi, I trust him enough to leave him with my body to guard me while I am unable to defend myself," answered Pein, not just for Madara, but also for everyone present.

Taking a breath, Pein turned towards his bed and sat on it, observing his subordinates with keen interest shining through those purple orbs.

"What are you all waiting for? Get out!"

Everyone nodded and moved to leave their leader in peace for some much-needed rest, but before any of them could exit the room, Pein spoke up,

"And I am taking the leadership back, Akatsuki was my organization, it will remain as such in future, dismissed!"

 **Next day**

 **10:30 AM**

 **Akatsuki Med-bay**

Pein, adorning his Akatsuki cloak, was walking towards the small set of doors in the dark corridor's end. Nurses and doctors were quickly bowing to him as they went to do their work, the presence of Pein alone was enough to ignite fear and awe in them, after all how many could say that they had seen the almighty Rinnegan from so up close and lived to tell about it.

A doctor wearing a lab coat and a pair of spectacles approached him, unknowingly obscuring his path. Pein quickly stopped in his stroll and his gaze shifted to rest on the face of his obstacle. The doctor shuffled uncomfortably and tried to look at Pein's feet in order to avoid his dangerous and intimidating gaze. Pein only raised an invisible eyebrow at that but decided to end the confrontation as fast as possible.

"Move," Pein whispered calmly while his eyes shifted to focus on the set of doors behind the doctor.

"Huh?" was the smart reply of the four-eyed doc.

"You are in my way, move or I'll do it for you," was the answer that greeted the Doctor.

All the staff nearby was standing stark still, observing the conversation if you could call it that. Eyes shifting from the powerful shinobi to the idiot of a doctor stopping him.

"Oh, S-Sorry Pein-Sama! Gomen!" spluttered the doctor as he shifted to a side, giving Pein a clear path to move forward. Pein didn't moved though and continued to observe the bonehead for a while with narrowed eyes. Feeling the powerful gaze on him, the doctor came back to reality and remembered the reason he had blocked Pein's path in the first place.

"Pein-Sama, we tried our best for stabilizing both Itachi-San and Konan-San, I would like to inform you that even if we succeeded, the injuries were too great to heal in a night. She will have to take bed rest for at least a week to get back in her previous condition-"

"You mean Konan?" asked Pein while he suddenly started to move towards the wards with desperation in his steps, followed by the doctor, conversation still going.

"Yes, that was about the lady," answered the doctor while his gaze remained fixed on the floor.

Pein glanced at the man following him with a tilted head,

"What about Itachi?"

"Itachi-san is a little different. His body was already damaged from inside when he got in that fight, as I was informed. Operating on him took us some time but once Konan-san regained consciousness, she helped a great deal. He will be discharged in a couple of days though I would suggest he takes it easy for awhile," answered the still unknown doctor.

Pein nodded and reached out to grasp the doorknob in his hand and turned it, but before opening it, he turned to glance at the doctor still standing at attention beside him.

"What's your name?"

"T-Takeshi, Doctor Takeshi" answered Takeshi as he gave nod.

"No last name?"

"I was an orphan from the very first day of my life so, yeah! No last name I guess, hehe, um sorry?"

Pein stared at him a while longer and Takeshi took that as a sign to leave, just before he turned to leave, Pein started,

"It's good to see that I have people like you to take care of Akatsuki, stay the way you are and someday, maybe I will give you a reason to live."

Takeshi's eyes widened in disbelief and he turned around to look at the Akatsuki leader but all he saw was the door closing. After standing there for a while with a look of surprise on his face, Takeshi finally turned and left to do his work. Wondering about the day, Pein talked about.

Entering the ward, Pein's eyes immediately landed on a sleeping Konan, a look of foreign emotion crossed his eyes for the briefest of moments before he suppressed it with the look of relief. Her facial features were hypnotizing to him while he observed the curve of her jaw line from his position near the door. Her relaxed posture and even breathing was alluring while he found it hard to tear his eyes away from her pale lips. He just wanted to feel her warmth and-

'Where did that come from? Wait, what am I thinking?' thought Pein but before he could think anymore, his musings were disturbed when his feet started to move on their own.

Unknown to him two sets of eyes were following his every movement, one with a look of understanding while other with a look of pure surprise and confusion. Just as Pein started to move towards Konan's bed, two voices stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Leader-Sama?" sounding confused.

"I don't think it would be a great idea to wake her up now," sounding amused.

Turning his head to look at the other side of the room, Pein saw an amused looking Itachi with a knowing look on his face, sitting in a hospital bed whilst a confused Kisame was sitting near his bed on a stool, Shamehada surprisingly missing from the scene.

When Pein made no move to come towards his bed, Itachi noticed the expressionless look he was shooting towards Kisame, sighing Itachi quickly said

"Kisame, thanks for visiting me, but if you will excuse us now….."

Kisame turned his head to give Itachi the same confused look that he was giving Pein for the last five minutes.

"Please Kisame, I have things to discuss with Leader-sama," said Itachi while leaning back in his bed.

Kisame slowly nodded and stood up, giving a nod to both Itachi and Pein, he strolled out of the room, locking the door behind his back.

Just as the tip-taps of Kisame's feet faded away in the corridor, Pein moved to sit in the stool previously occupied by the large shark like man.

Itachi followed his every movement with calculative gaze and then locked eyes with him,

"Who are you?" was the simple question that escaped Itachi's lips.

Pein gave him a confused look and represented it with the world's most famous word

"What?"

"I mean which one are you, Nagato or Naruto, which one?"

Pein turned his head to look out of the small window, gazing at the Tindal effect of the light coming in. finally sighing and raising his left hand to look at it while flexing his fingers he answered

"I don't know, I guess I am just…me?"

"What do you mean 'just me'?" asked Itachi with an alarmed expression showing on his face.

Pein stared in Itachi's eyes and then decided to elaborate.

"I think you can say that I am fifty percent Naruto-"

"Twenty percent Nagato-"

"Fifteen percent Kyuubi-"

At this Itachi's eyes grew wide with disbelief but the real shock came in the last line

"Ad fifteen percent…Yahiko."

"Impossible! How can this be possible?" exclaimed Itachi in an uncharacteristic nature.

"Don't worry Itachi, slowly but surely, Naruto persona will overcome others, there is no need to worry!" said Pein, trying to calm hi nerves down.

"No! how can be your math so good?" Itachi joked a little calm his own nerves down, gaining a quizzical look of irritation from Pein, who decided to let this one slide.

Itachi started to shake his head,

'NO NO NO! THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!' thought Itachi before looking at the man in front of him.

"How can you be four living souls in one single body?" he finally asked the most confusing question.

"I am just Naruto! Believe me! What I meant is I can-"

Looking at his palm

"Understand their hatred,-"

Looking at his legs beneath him,

"Remember their sufferings and Memories-"

Finally turning his head to look at the still peacefully sleeping beauty on the other side of the room,

"And feel their feelings," he finished while smiling a little as Konan shifted in her sleep.

Itachi noticed this and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, Pein turned his head to meet his eyes,

"Go to her side, it will make you feel better as it may feel the same for her," said Itachi while giving him a proud yet small smile.

Pein just hung his head and shook his head,

"That's the problem! It will only make her uncomfortable, I must stay away from her for a while, these feelings are new and confusing for me too," he said while again glancing out of the window.

Itachi noticed the sadness in his voice but before he could point it out, another thing caught his attention. Pein's eyes where shining in the sunlight coming from the window, but his rinnegan wasn't reflecting the sunlight like it should have.

"What's with your eyes, there is something off with them right?" asked Itachi while activating his sharingan to look at the rinnegan.

Pein turned towards him to face his sharingan, smiling a little,

"So you noticed huh? As expected from the infamous Uchiha Itachi," he said in a mock mockery.

"Okay, now tell me what is it? I couldn't find any problems with them via my sharingan," answered/asked Itachi with a scowl on his face.

"It's a genjutsu, simple as that," answered Pein as he made a ram seal to temporarily disable the genjutsu. The genjutsu lifted to reveal the red eyes of Yahiko. Itachi observed that they weren't the deep blue eyes of Naruto, nor were they silver purple ones of rinnegan, they were dark red like that of the Kyuubi.

"How? I mean my sharingan could have easily detected a genjutsu, I am sure of that so how?...wait! Scratch that! Who did YOU performed a genjutsu much less an anti sharingan one?" asked a bewildered yet calm looking Itachi. All these surprises were making it difficult to maintain his usual stoic face.

"Actually, if you had used your Mangekyou, you may have seen through that genjutsu, but the point is, I think I may have activated my own Sharingan? Remember you donated some blood for this body as well as mine? I theorized that the stress of the whole ritual forced the Uchiha genes present in that blood to take charge and alter my genes because when I woke up, I had enhanced vision for a while. I used all my remaining chakra plus Kyuubi's chakra to cast this genjutsu on my eyes," answered Pein as he massaged his chin in thought.

"From what Kyuubi told me, I have the rinnegan, but it is in dormant stage in my blood and will reveal itself in the time of need, or something like that," stated Pein as a matter of fact-ly.

"So you can talk to Kyuubi, even after the ritual?" asked Itachi as he gave it a thought.

"Yeah I can, why'd you ask?"

"Because the real Kyuubi is still sealed in Uzumaki Naruto's body," answered Itachi, gaining a surprised look from Pein.

"I think I shall ask the fox about it later, now then, how do I activate my sharingan?" asked Pein with little excitement.

"Oh yeah, Try imagining Konan in danger, it should do the trick," answered Itachi with hidden amusement.

Pein gave him a confused as well as a suspicious glare but compiled anyways.

Closing his eyes, he imagined what he was told to and opened them after a while.

Itachi glanced at him and gave a nod of understanding.

"You indeed have the sharingan, a fully matured stage three at that. It was the ritual's pressure, that's for sure because there is no way you would have activated a level three sharingan otherwise," stated Itachi in his monotone.

Pein just nodded and calmed down a little, sharingan fading from his eyes and his rinnegan genjutsu coming back to cover the red eyes of Yahiko.

"What happened after both of us were defeated? Kisame won't tell me anything," asked Itachi as he shifted a little to get comfortable in his bed.

"Nothing much, I just killed a Zetsu clone, scared the shit out of Hidan and Deidara, gave Sasori and Kakuzu a death glare and toke back the leadership from Madara, that's it," Pein summed up without skipping a heartbeat.

"Madara is not a fool, he took your body before the fighting began. He intends to do something with it, something dangerous, I just hope it is not what I think it is," informed Itachi as he lied down on his pillow with a serious expression back on his visage.

"Come on Itachi, that body was as good as dead when we performed the ritual. Believe me when I say this, there is nothing he can do to make it useful in any way possible," scoffed the new Pein.

"It seems that you are underestimating your former Uzumaki body, that body is capable of many great feats little brother, you can take my word for that," answered an amused Itachi.

"Whatever you say, we'll deal with it if it comes back to bite us in our backs in the future," dismissed Pein.

"You should work on your choices of words, try speaking more like Pein than Naruto!" advised Itachi as Pein just nodded in his way.

A comfortable silence fell around the two males as they continued to run their brains for the situation that they were facing right now.

Finally, Pein stood up and turned to face Itachi,

"Well I will leave you to rest then, I have a meeting with other members in a moment, wish me luck," he said while turning to walk towards the door.

"You don't need any luck, just don't get irritated by Hidan and Deidara and you'll be fine," called Itachi from his position in bed. Pein reached to open the door but stopped when Itachi spoke up again.

"You know, she fought with everything she had, that woman. Even when Kakuzu was throwing her all over the room like a rag doll, she managed to piss off the walking zombie. She is a fighter from the heart, I can tell," said Itachi while throwing a glance towards the sleeping blue head.

Pein turned to look at the face of Konan, and smiled,

"Yes, she is a fighter, but deep down she is still a scared girl who wants nothing more than a hand to yank her out of the horrors of her past," whispered Pein as he continued to look at the mentioned woman.

"You know, that hand can be yours," said Itachi with some expectation in his voice, gazing at Pein's facial expressions.

Pein gave a real genuine smile, the first smile Itachi had ever seen on that face.

"I intend to Itachi, I intend to, and I hope it's in time."

 **Akatsuki Meeting chamber**

Everyone from the last night was assembled in the meeting area, Pein was sitting at the head of the table with both the seats on his side vacant, symbolizing the absence of two of his most trusted Akatsuki members.

Finally, when Hidan and Deidara stopped bickering with each other, pein started to address his subordinates.

"What happened last night was a clear indication of the lack of trust among our ranks, there is no point in denying it. That's why I have decided to dissolve the paired teams for the future missions. From now on, the teams will be assigned as per the mission's requirements," announced Pein as he observed everyone for any signs of objection.

"Kakuzu, I want you to start hunting for high bounties, the organization was inactive of a while and the mission requests have declined exponentially, we can use some finances. Kisame, you are assigned to pair up with Kakuzu for this mission and please, stay alive after this trip of yours."

Kakuzu nodded while Kisame only grunted in response.

Turning to look at Sasori, Pein continued,

'Sasori, I want you to plant new spies and sleeper cells in every village of Elemental nations, not just the great five Hidden villages, but also in the small merchant villages. There is something I need you to find the location of. Moreover, start building your Puppet weapons, soon we shall commence the hunt of Bijuus."

Sasori nodded and asked a simple question,

"Who will be my partner, Leader?"

"No one. I know that you have problems dealing with the likes of Hidan and Deidara, that's why I am assigning you this solo mission as I trust you can perform better that way," answered Pein, gaining a nod from the Puppet user.

"Very well, it shall be done," said Sasori.

"What about me, hn?" asked Deidara as he leaned forward in his chair over the table.

"You and Hidan are going to start acting like proper shinobi, you must change that attitude of your before coming back from this next mission of yours," pein said as he motioned towards both Hidan and Deidara, who scowled but nodded anyways.

"You and Hidan are going to Kirigakure no sato, there is a civil war raging there. I want you to have some pass time there and try to take control of that village at the same time, it may prove beneficial for us in the future. You are allowed to make as many sacrifices as you like and as many explosions as you can, just return in one single piece, that's for you Deidara, Hidan can skip this instruction."

Hidan grinned at this and jumped up

"HELL YEAH! NOW YOU'RE TALKING LIKE A LEADER! WATCH OUT KIRI BITCHES HERE I COME!"

Deidara just face palmed at this and gave Pein the meanest look he could muster.

"Compared to him, I would have loved to have a mission with Itachi," muttered Deidara but unfortunately, Hidan heard him.

"HEY FUCKER, YA WANT A PIECE A' ME, HUH?! COME ON BOMBIE, LETS GET THOSE BITCHES YEAH!"

With that Hidan toke off out of the door, straight to Kiri.

Deidara looked at the stoic Kakuzu and pointed an accusing finger at his face,

"HA, I SAW IT! YOU ARE LAUGHING BEHIND THAT SHITTY MASK OF YOURS! I SAW YOUR FACE TWITCH, YOU LUCKY –"

Before he could finish his sentence, Pein thundered,

"SHUT UP! Get to your assignments, NOW!"

Deidara quickly ran out of the room without even a single glance behind his back. Kakuzu with a twitch in his eyebrow quickly stood up and left as well.

"Zetsu, I want you to make a trip to Konoha and find out the situation of the village. Also while you are at it, try keeping tabs on the whereabouts of Orochimaru, we have allowed that snake to roam our lands for too long." Pein said as the plant like man gave a nod and dissolved in the floor, surprisingly along with his chair.

Turning to face the masked man on the opposite side of his seat, Pein addressed Madara,

"I want you to try and recruit some more Akatsuki members from the bingo books, S-ranked shinobis of course. I think we'll need them in near future, I take you can do that?"

Madara remained silent at this while Kisame and Sasori stared towards him without any expressions on their faces.

Finally he nodded but gave a snide comment,

"I know what I have to _do_ in this _situation_ Pein," he said and quickly left in a swirl of air.

'He is getting out of your hands Leader," stated Sasori as he looked at Pein, who was stills staring at the seat occupied by Madara moments ago.

"I know, but I still have use of him, once he is no longer of use…."

"I see," Sasori said as he gave a curt nod.

"Will you do that to everyone else as well, once they have fulfilled their purpose and role in your plans?" asked Kisame as he glared at the man in front of him. Pein only corked an eyebrow as he noticed the interested look Sasori sent his way.

"As long as your loyalty lies with the Akatsuki and for as long as you keep following the orders, I guarantee your safety. If it makes you feel safe then hear this, I will fight alongside you, stand between you and your death, Protect you, heal you, save you, but…IF you betrayed me….I will make you beg for death under my feet," answered Pein as he glanced at both of them one by one.

Both Kisame and Sasori nodded content with the reply and stood up, it seems that their leader has changed a little.

"Dismissed!" finished Pein as he himself walked out of the chambers, followed/flanked by both Kisame and Sasori alike.

 **Madara's chambers**

 **After the meeting**

Madara appeared in a swirl, his feet gently coming in contact with the cold floor, while his eyes scanned his surroundings as if searching for something. Finding what he was searching for in the form of Zetsu standing in a corner, he quickly fast steps and made his way towards his loyal follower. he was feeling excitement after years of emotionless life. It was to be expected because he was sure if the real Uchiha Madara was here, he too would have expressed his excitement in some way or another.

The perfect weapon, perfect subordinate to manipulate, the perfect demon to do his bidding was finally under his control.

Reaching Zetsu, he asked in a commanding tone,

"What's the status, Zetsu? Is he ready or not?"

Turning around to look at his master, white Zetsu gave him a grin and motioned towards a figure sitting on a bed in the dark corner of the room, completely still with only the slight shifts in his posture indicating his breathing.

"He is ready Tobi! And there is something that will make you a lot happy," said White Zetsu as he started to grin maniacally.

"What is it?" asked Tobi as he moved to take his seat in the throne situated in the middle of the chamber. Sitting down, his sharingan spinning madly behind the mysterious mask as he gazed at the figure of one formerly known as…Uzumaki Naruto.

Zetsu moved to stand beside him and sat in a side chair in the dark.

" **I detected zero chakra of the real one in this… body. Uzumaki Naruto is perfectly and definitely dead. Traces of Kyuubi's chakra are still scattered throughout his chakra system but they will settle down in the form of the Kyuubi, eventually,"** informed black Zetsu as he continued to glance at Madara/Tobi.

"I think we should start his training, from what I heard from Itachi, he is quite exceptional with the use of Kage bunshins, they may serve as a useful tool to accelerate his training considerably," suggested a surprisingly serious white Zetsu while he glanced in the direction of Naruto before going back to gaze at Madara's features.

"Yes I will start his training in a couple of days, Pein wants some new recruits, I will give him a powerhouse soon enough. But the use of Kage Bushin will only degrade his training's quality, have you forgotten how Madara trained me? I shall train him the same. I want quality above quantity and speed. It doesn't matter how much Jutsus one knows, what matters is how good can one perform them." Answered Tobi as he stood up and started to move towards the figure in the dark. Zetsu quickly fell behind him in the steps.

"If you think you can train him the same way you were trained once, then there is something you should know," said white Zetsu as he stopped just behind Tobi, in front of the figure.

Tobi just raised his hand and touched the chin of the boy. His hair were blocking his eyes and there was evident stiffness in his muscles.

'he will need some light training for a while but I don't have time for that,' thought Tobi as he yanked at his hand to pull Naruto's head upwards.

Shining red sharingan eye met dull and dead pair of…sharingan eyes?

"What is the meaning of this Zetsu?!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you, he had them active at the time of his revival and they can't be switched off," informed Zetsu as he took a step back to increase the distance between him and Tobi whose shoulders shook in anger?

Suddenly Tobi started to bark out laughter, cold malicious laughter echoed throughout the chambers as he tried to control himself.

"This just became far more interesting them I imagined, Zetsu! HAHAHAHA!" exclaimed Tobi as he spun on his heals to go in the darkness of his quarters.

Zetsu followed his movements with a confused stare before asking a question present in his mind,

"Surely we can't refer to him as Uzumaki Naruto right? So what do we call him?"

Madara whispered something before disappearing in the darkness.

"We call him…Uchiha Obito!"

 **TO BE CONTINUED! I THINK?**

 **Now start writing your reviews as I expect tons of them! Oh and another 10K+ words for this story yeah!**

 **:::ADDITIONAL CLASS:::**

 **DEVA:-** The word _DEVA_ in DEVA-PATH is derived from Indian language Hindi word 'Deva', which means God.

 **NERKA:-** the word _NERKA_ in NERKA-PATH is derived from the same language word 'Nerka', which means Hell.

 **That's it wait for next chapter for more**

 **NEXT CHAPTER WILL COME OUT IN THE END OF MAY SO YOU ARE WELCOME TO SEND ME IDEAS VIA ANY MEANS, SEE YA LATER ALLIGATOR!**

 **JA NE!**

 **[^_^]**

 **(NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799)**


	4. Training!

_**For those who reviewed, thanks a lot!**_

 _ **REVIEW RESPONSE**_

 **Soundwave1248:** Thanks for pointing out that mistake of mine, I'll try to edit it as soon as possible. Now firstly, thanks for taking your time and reviewing I appreciate it. Secondly, I can't change what the reviewer thinks and rights in his/her review, though I perfectly agree with you on that that the series is based on asian religions. It was good to hear/read from ya.

 **Irusha the Kitsune:** Your question was a little straight forward I must confess that, but I am lucky that both of your ideas were wrong! I know I said he'll get EMS and I will I assure you, but it won't be in the ways you mentioned. I guess you'll just have keep following this fanfic of mine, right? Thanks for the review though.

 **Iywe:** Thanks for your inspiration boosting review, I think I can write this fic even if you are the only one reading it. I think it was your eyes seeing a little left or right but I am sure you'll like the series/story. Thanks and I guess your review was the best one I have gotten so far for not just this fic but for any of my fics, so again thanks a lot and I look forward to seeing more reviews from you

 **X3runner:** Your theory regarding the seal is absolutely correct and I would like to give you a kudos for it. The new Obito doesn't have any of his former identity in his head….yet. I think that answers your question right? Thanks for reviewing like you always have and keep reviewing in the future as well.

 **Experiencerocker7:** I already settled it down with ya via PM so ill just say this, thanks for reviewing and please keep sharing your experience with me at least, because I am always in need of some help, hehe.(Sweatdrops)

 **Naes151:** Thanks for telling me about your views regarding the chapter 3 and once again thanks for reviewing. I was struggling to write this chapter for a while as my laptop died on me, still after reading review like yours, I am feeling refreshed as I write this specially for ya.

 **Crazywizard73:** Hey man are ya a fan of Harry Potter fanfics like me? Cause if you are, check out my favorites section, you'll love it. I remember PM-ing you but I am not sure so again, I clarify it. Yep the bijuu hunting one was Pein persona talking but don't worry the new Pein's got a plan for the Jinchurikis, you'll see. As for other villages, I share your concern for short screen time for those and I'll try amending it. Thanks for reviewing and keep on writing to me.

 **Ezeakel:** Man, are you on a horse or something? You are quite an active reader as evident from your favorites list's length in a short amount of time! Anyways I always love your reviews as you are always the first one to review any new chapter that I post. Thanks for the continuous support.

 *****IMPORTANT*****

 _ **Aright so, I just wanted to tell you all that recently I received two PMs requesting for the rights of this Fanfic or its unique idea. Basically, they wanted me to pull an 'UP FOR ADOPTION' flag on this fic so that they could gain the writing rights. As expected from me, I declined politely but I don't think they got the message. What I want from you all is that if you ever come across a fanfic which is a copy of this one or this idea from a different author (Without my consent text), please inform me and tell the concerned author to get ready to get his ass kicked all the way to hell.**_

 _ **Thanks**_

 _ **X.D.**_

 **Disclaimer:** Why Kishimoto? Why would you betray me and steal the rights of Naruto, a series I made through my blood and sweat? Oh why?! ***Fuck you!***

 **CHAPTER -4 Training (Commencing arc's end)**

 **SEVEN MONTHS LATER**

 **DARK CAVE, UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Sweat dripped from his brow as he went through multiple sword katas, an emotionless expression was evident on his face. The darkness of the cave may have posed a problem to anyone else but for him, it was what defined his life, his only goal. Another swing of his sword and another boulder became his victim.

His master's gaze followed his every movement as he danced around the training area of the hideout with accuracy and high precision. Another strike, another boulder.

His master was sitting in his throne with a hand under his right cheek, attentively observing his protégé for any form of flaw in his stances or swings. His pawn's training was coming along quite nicely; his body was still developing in the ways he had predicted. A figure stood beside the throne, indicating the presence of the master's lackey.

Sharingan flared in the darkness as the training figure started to move at blinding speed, his sword-wielding arm becoming a blur as he weaved through the training posts. A fully matured level three-sharingan set was left glowing in the darkness as everything behind the figure slowly but surely collapsed on the ground, cleaved in pieces like butter.

Those of you who think I am referring to our favorite Uzumaki Naruto…. You have a long way to understand the sense of humor of NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799, why? This is why!

"Sasuke, this is enough training for today! Go back to your dorm, we'll start next phase of your training soon," ordered Orochimaru as he started to get up from his throne, clearly contemplating to leave the young Uchiha to his own accord.

Sasuke was starting to hate this guy even more than his old fool of a teammate. Speaking of his former teammate or rather late teammate, Sasuke still felt confused regarding the blond. That idiot had tried to stop him even when it was clear that he would die in the process, to him it was an act of foolishness because if their situations were opposite, Sasuke would have never done what Naruto did.

Kabuto had informed him that Naruto was dead when he was retrieved from the valley. To think that the Dobe would go down in such a way! Even Sasuke was finding it hard to understand the situation because something confusing had occurred that day.

He had killed his friend, as the Mangekyou required so why was he still feeling so weak. The problem was that it wasn't an easy thing to understand. He had found out a month later that his right eye was bleeding whenever he activated his Sharingan. Gazing in the mirror present in his room had shown him the reason.

His Mangekyou.

Apparently, somehow, Sasuke had succeeded in gaining his Mangekyou but a tiny bitsy problem had occurred, it was only his right eye, which evolved. No matter how much he focused, how much desperate he was or how much danger he was in, his left eye refused to gain that same pattern of his Mangekyou that his right one displayed with pride.

Maybe that's why he never tried to use his Mangekyou, he knew that his Mangekyou will give him unimaginable power and that he should practice with it but he never succeeded in gathering the courage required to do it.

Orochimaru and Kabuto were still unaware of this fact regarding his eyes or rather eye and he intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. There was nothing to gain from it and Uchiha Sasuke never did useless things. He'll take care of his little problem on his own without Orochimaru hearing a thing about his new abilities.

 **Madara's hideout**

"Zetsu, I wanted to ask you this for some time, how am I able to control him with my sharingan? Why just me?" asked Madara as he glanced at Zetsu standing in the corner of his cave hideout.

Referred person or rather body was currently going through an intense course of Physical training consisted of push-ups, crunches, sit-ups, punching multiple boulders and kicking them with enough might to reduce them to dust.

" **It's not like he is keyed to your sharingan, Obito. It's just that you can control him because you have an advanced version of sharingan. It also doesn't mean that he will stop following your orders if he ever gained Mangekyou of his own because his brain will not get free reign of his body seeing as he is just a walking dead body after all,"** explained Zetsu as he tried his best to avoid irritating the Uchiha in front of him.

"So we'll have to force his brain to accept me as his master for all eternity before he gains Mangekyou?" asked Tobi while glancing back at his protégé with keen interest shining in his dark orbs.

" **Yes, considering how I altered his genetic data and changed his bloodline, I am sure he will awaken his Mangekyou sooner or later,"** answered Zetsu while turning to observe the face of the masked man in the throne, trying to read his body language to understand and predict what was going on in the head of the one eyed Uchiha.

"I see. Then I must accelerate his training as much as possible, but I must say, for a dead body, he sure packs a whole lot of stamina," whispered Tobi before standing up and walking forward towards the figure currently going through a series of Punches and kicks.

"I would prefer the term, 'a mindless walking body' over a 'walking dead body', don't you agree?" asked white Zetsu as he trailed behind him.

Tobi just gave a grunt in response, indicating that he had heard what Zetsu said to him, but gave no further indication of replying and continued to observe the boy moving at lightning speed in front of him.

(From now on, this body will be referred as Naruto only whereas the real Naruto will be referred as Pein)

Naruto glanced towards the approaching figures from the corner of his eyes. He was wearing a black loose shirt with a pair of grey pants. His headband was shining clearly in the small light available in the training area.

Looking closely, you will find that his looks were different as well. His whisker like birth marks were fading into nothingness. His face was now a little leaner with no evidence of baby fat on it. His once shiny sun kissed golden blond hair were now a dull and pale blond with little shine remaining to them.

His face was also a lot paler than before as his bodily functions were not functioning like that of a living human being. His hair reached his shoulder with two bangs of long hair framing his face from both the sides.

Zetsu had explained that due to the change in DNA and genes, the whiskers on his face were soon going to fade out of existence. In addition, his Mokuton nature will soon start to appear as the cells of Hashirama will finish the bonding with his body. The cells of Hashirama were taking so long to combine with him due to the presence of the real Madara's cells along with Uchiha Itachi's blood.

Having the DNA of two powerful Mangekyou users was a bit too much for the body to simply accept the opposite DNA of the Legendary Senju. Luckily, Naruto wasn't just anyone, he was the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki along with being an Uzumaki. If anything could control and balance the power of Uchiha and Senju, it was the Uzumaki DNA, and Naruto was a descendent of the royal Uzumaki linage. It meant he wasn't just the last known bearer of the Uzumaki traits, he was also carrying the most potent Uzumaki genes one could hope to have.

"Take care of his looks, I don't want him to join the Akatsuki looking like a twin of Kyuubi's Jinchuriki or the Yondaime Hokage," ordered Tobi as he continued to observe the training taking place in front of his eyes.

"Will do but if I used anything other than Genjutsu, then it may react to the dead body's cells. If you have any specific appearance in mind then tell me now," said the white Zetsu as he started to try to annoy Tobi.

Tobi just answered without paying any heed to the childish nature of white Zetsu,

"Make sure his sharingan is always visible, I want everyone to know that he wields those eyes too. Also, hide those birthmarks on his face, some of the other members are too smart to be fooled so easily," said Tobi as he stared towards Obito's face in disdain.

" **Whatever you wish, I will have to perform some surgeries too, both for your request and his body's power boost,"** said Black Zetsu while going through the problems he will have to face in the surgeries.

"What is the report of his bodily changes?" asked Tobi.

" **His body is still coping with the changes and will finish gaining the enhanced abilities by the end of this month, if everything goes in the right order that is,"** answered Zetsu as he started to sink back in the ground, a lot of preparations were to be made.

"And Zetsu, try finding another kekkei genkai user, a strong one at that. After all don't you think 'Obito' will need a partner in Akatsuki, huh?" order Tobi with a dark chuckle.

" **I see, I think I already have a few individuals in mind for that purpose,"** answered Zetsu before disappearing in the floor.

'Soon, soon I will have the ultimate weapon in the form of this little pawn and the world will know the real power of Akatsuki.'

 **KONOHAGAKURE**

 **Forest of Death**

Jumping through the trees, the former member of the famed twelve Ninja guardians, Asuma Sarutobi was deep in thought. His thoughts were wondering around a certain legendary ninja, Hatake Kakashi. The copy ninja was off the radar for a while and no one knew where the hell did he disappeared to.

Even the Godaime was keeping quiet about the topic, not that someone expected something so little of importance to occupy the Hokage's busy schedule. 

"Hey Kakashi, what are you doing here?" asked Asuma as he observed his long time friend going through some basic training regime in the outer region of the forest of death.

Said copy ninja was in the middle of going through a hard set of pushups when he heard his name being called. He was only sporting a black ANBU style pants along with a sleeveless Jonin shirt, which left his ANBU tattoo in plain sight. His mask was safely secured on his face while his headband was pushed upwards to reveal his borrowed eye.

Looking up from his position, Kakashi struggled to look at the new comer. Due to the nonstop training, he was doing for the last couple of hours, his legendary gravity defying hair were sticking to his forehead protector, thanks to the sweat.

Using his left hand, Kakashi pulled back his hair and his gaze shifted upwards to meet with Asuma's.

"What?" asked Kakashi as his gaze kept going all around for anyone else.

Asuma noted the sudden tension in his muscles as his gaze refused to meet his.

"I asked what are you doing here, in the forest of death?" asked Asuma repeating his question once more.

"Oh, I was just training, you know, trying to get back in the flow," answered Kakashi while getting back to his pushups.

Asuma clearly saw the change in Kakashi's attitude and decided to call him out on it.

"What's the sudden change for, huh?" he asked while observing the other Jonin with a critical eye.

Kakashi suddenly came to a stop in mid pushup as he sighed,

"It is a requirement for my new change of job," answered Kakashi as he stood up and started dusting his finger gloves.

He walked to a side and took out a canteen of water from behind a tree. Quickly downing the water in short gulps while looking away from Asuma, he replaced his mask back on his face. He was about to take out a towel when Asuma interrupted him,

'What job, are you going back to being a normal non-team Jonin?" he asked while giving him a quizzical raise of an eyebrow.

"No, I have requested to get back in the ANBU, they were more than happy to take me back in and guess what, I am going to continue being an ANBU captain," said Kakashi as he finished his clean up and zipped up his Jonin vest back.

"It was nice to talk to you Asuma, but I am afraid we'll have to cut it short here as I have to report to Hokage-sama in a minute. See ya around," said Kakashi before disappearing in a leaf shunshin.

Asuma was left standing there with a dumb stuck look on his face he tried to understand exactly what happened with him in the last five minutes or so.

 **AMEGAKURE**

 **Training area**

Darkness

That's what greeted him as he stood there in front of the former ANBU captain.

"Again!" ordered Itachi with a stern voice as he kept one hand behind his back.

His left hand was in front with a Kodaichi held firmly within its grasp. A look of concentration was fixed on the face of Itachi as he faced the Akatsuki leader.

Pein stood against Itachi with a long sword at ready, his sharingan spinning madly as he tried to get past the Uchiha's guard. Said Uchiha was defending against him for the last hour without bucking once under the continuous onslaught of attacks, curtsey of Pein.

Konan was leaning on the sidewall with a towel in her hands, her gaze fixed on the figure of her new friend, Pein.

In the last six or seven months, this new Pein had crawled his way in her life like a long lost childhood friend. She knew that somewhere deep inside her heart, she still loved that face, HER Yahiko's face. No matter how much she tried to keep herself distant from 'him' and Yahiko's memories, but after finding out about the presence of Yahiko in Pein's body, she was struggling with herself.

Maybe that's why she was standing with a towel at ready, intending to help the orange head in her plane of sight. Shaking her head a little to get it out of lingering thoughts of past and supposed future, she focused her concentration back on the fight.

Itachi stood at ready as Pein charged with his sword ready to cleave through his kodaichi. Pein neared his form and tried to inflict fatal damage with the helpful length of his weapon, swinging it with all his might.

CLANG!

Sparks flew in all directions as the two weapons collided at lightning speed, grinding away at each other's edge. Pein reared back his sword to deliver another strike but failed to notice the sudden shift in Itachi's stance. As Pein leaned forward to use his weight in the strike, Itachi spun on his heel and delivered a head hammering spinning kick to his left cheek.

Pein flew straight at Konan who side stepped at the last moment. He collided with the wall at neck breaking speed, causing a nasty dent to appear on it. His body came crumbling down in a heap of limbs and debris. When the dust settled down, a twitching form of the orange haired male was revealed.

He was crying anime tears as he cradled his bumped head with his palms, all the while wincing at the pain. Looking up at Itachi, he glared at him and pointed an accusing finger at the blackhead.

"What the hell was that?! Huh, you said we'll only use our weapons and then suddenly you go all taijutsu on me?!"

Itachi, who was still in his stance eased out of it and started to take short and slow steps towards him. Coming to a stop in front of him, Itachi gave him a stare like that of a teacher scolding a stuck up student.

"In a fight, your opponents can deceive you and trust me on this, they will deceive you! What you need to learn is to stay alert at all times, even when your opponent has a handicap. Fighting like Uzumaki Naruto won't work anymore, you must start fighting like Pein!" said Itachi in a scolding tone with his eyes closed.

"But this-"

"Don't use the new body excuse, that body was shooting out Ninjutsu when you weren't even born! You are walking around in that body for SEVEN months already, how much more time do you need?!" shot back Itachi as he felt that he had crossed a line right there.

Konan was just staring at the duo, both in surprise at Itachi's out of character speech AND in concern at the look that dawned on Pein's face after said speech.

"Your class is over, go take a break," said Itachi as he turned on his heels and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait…" said Pein as he struggled get back on his feet.

Itachi stopped in his track and turned around to face him, gazing in his eyes with annoyance.

"I just wanted to say that try not to attack on my head, the memory influx is already making it hard to concentrate on the training and if you go and kick me in the face like that, it only worsens it," said Pein as his right hand went up to hold his temple in its palm. He was swaying on his feet while his left hand tried to find something to hold onto.

Konan quickly came to his aid and supported him by taking his arm around her shoulder while her right hand went back to his waist.

"What do you mean memory influx? What is it you are not telling me," asked Itachi as he grew a little tense with the subject. By the looks on Pein's as well as Konan's face, this was something that they didn't intended to tell him.

"What do you mean memory influx? ANSWER ME!" exclaimed Itachi as he began to fear for the worse.

May be the ritual is backfiring, but why after SEVEN months? No, no, no, it's just the Kyuubi messing with his brain to get a kick out of him. Alternatively, may be its something Zetsu did for Tobi? Something like poisoning Pein's food or injecting something in his blood stream. Maybe it's the stress of the sudden activation of his sharingan and training in it's use?

There were tons of possible explanations for this new information in Itachi's head, every other one more likely than the last one. He was a little confused and a whole lot worried, for Pein AND for Naruto. Is it some sort of connection between the two bodies? It was possible after all, Pein now had the memories as well as emotions of four spirits in his head. Establishing a connection between his new body and his former body was something Pein was capable of without intending.

"He's been having nightmares, nightmares consisting of memories of spiritual parts! His brain is under constant pressure from sorting out the memories flooding his mind. It's a miracle he is still sane, after reliving all the horrors of his, Yahiko's and Nagato's lives, again and again and again. Not to mention the evil disasters done by the nine tails. Hearing those screams again and again like its stuck in his head is what he's been going through for these last seven months!" it was Konan who answered Itachi as he stumbled backwards to regain his footing.

It was like him, only worse. When Itachi had killed all the Uchiha clan members, he had suffered through the very same mental stress. The screams and lifeless eyes were on the verge of consuming his life and soul. He had woken up in the middle of countless nights, in broken sweat, his body heating up like a volcano, eyes darting from corner to corner in an attempt to ease the racing heart under his breastbone.

From what Konan told him, Naruto was going through the same problem but only a thousand times worsened. His case was different from Naruto, as he actually HAD killed innocents, spilled blood with his sword. Naruto had yet to take a life in his one and a half years-long shinobi career as a Konoha-nin. He had fought in the third shinobi world war, seen the horrors the war brought with it, the pain, the loss, the sorrow of separation and isolation. Naruto was still a child when he had gone to the wave, on his first real mission.

"Why, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped in some way," asked Itachi in whisper, staring at the pair with an unreadable expression on his visage.

"Because you would have done everything in your power to help me, that was something Naruto could have afforded, not Pein. I needed you to focus on my training, to make me powerful, to teach me the way of an Uchiha. The pain was unbearable so I went to Konan, she is giving me some medicines to dull the headache but I am still struggling to contact the Kyuubi to get some helpful answers from it," answered Pein as he stood up straight, already feeling his Uzumaki blood working on repairs on his cheek injury. Konan was still by his side, holding him firmly.

Itachi only stared at him for a while and then gave a reluctant nod, his head dipped a little as he made his way towards the orange head. Reaching forward he reached out with his hand to touch the scalp of Pein's head.

"I think you must be pretty happy with your choice of body, after all orange has been your favorite color for like eternity," said Itachi in a joking tone, he failed to give any expression though.

"You bet I am," answered Pein, as he made no action to back off from the touch of his brother figure, while Konan just stared at the two.

"Now you were saying something about struggling to communicate with the fox? Let me help you in that," said Itachi as his sharingan morphed in its Mangekyou state before spinning hypnotically.

Itachi appeared in Pein's mindscape, the very same damp sewer was present as the former Jinchuriki's mindscape. He walked forward and came to stand in front of the cage that used to house the Kyuubi until seven months ago. The cage was obviously vacant now as the seal holding back the Kyuubi was still present on 'Naruto's' abdomen.

Before Itachi could do anything regarding the matter of communication fault, Pein appeared beside him in a crouching position. Standing up and dusting himself, he turned to face Itachi and pointed to a corner. Itachi followed his fingers aim and found a small and pitch black door on a side.

"That's the connection's way I think, it's been there since the day of ritual and I don't think I saw it open ever," said Pein as he started to walk towards the small door.

Itachi just started to follow him while wandering how in the world Pein managed to appear in his own mindscape when he was using a genjutsu on par with his Mangekyou Genjutsu - Tsukuyomi.

Coming to a stop in front of the door, Pein turned to look at Itachi,

"How did you appear here?" asked Itachi as if he was waiting for him to turn around.

Pein gave him a deadpanned look before tapping his temple with his index finger,

"I was a Jinchuriki not too long ago remember? As a Jinchuriki, I am used to appear here either when the Kyuubi called me or when I was in desperate need of Chakra boost. It's like a habit or Jutsu that I can perform without think a lot," he answered as he stepped forward and touched the door.

The door started to glow a shiny golden on his touch but otherwise remain unchanged. He started to try and push the door but alas, it refused to budge. Getting away from the door, he turned to look at Itachi who was deep in thought after the display of tug of war between the chakras.

"See, I tried everything, even fired a few jutsus including Rasengan. It's like this door is trying to stop me from crossing over to the other side or something," mumbled Pein as he kicked the door with all his might and succeeded in only making a loud metallic sound.

"I saw you try to push it open, you were even using a bit of chakra enhanced strength, but it absorbed your chakra output and used it to strengthen itself. I think your conclusion of this doors purpose is correct. It is here to stop you from crossing over to the other body's spiritual mindscape so that the balance of the spiritual power and the physical power can be maintained and thus the equilibrium is achieved," answered Itachi as he stood there with a thinking expression on his face.

When Pein gave him a sweat dropped look, Itachi sighed and explained it to him in a little easier way.

"I meant, that this door keeps you and your chakra here while it does the same for your former body from the other side," said Itachi as continued to think about some way possible to get in contact with the Kyuubi.

"You could have said that the first time, there was no need to force me to waste the neuron cells of my brain!" exclaimed Pein as he gave him an angry look, not noticing the twitch of Itachi's eye.

"NARUTO! Start acting like Pein or you'll be caught in a second and even I and Konan won't be able to help you!" lectured Itachi as he gave him a glare.

Pein quickly sealed his mouth shut as he saw the tick marks crowding the Uchiha's forehead.

"Geez, you are one to talk, acting all out of your character yourself," muttered Pein but Itachi still heard him.

But before Itachi could lecture him again Pein again started,

"And that damn Kyuubi-teme, I swear the next time see that gender confused Fox, I will castrate him and find out if it's a she or he. Damn manipulative, sleepy head, eye sore, lazy ass-" before he could complete his rant, Itachi placed his hand on his mouth to shut him up.

When Pein gave him a questioning glare, Itachi pointed towards the cage behind him and whispered,

"I don't think it was a good idea to bad mouth the strongest Bijuu in its own lair."

Confused at the words of the Uchiha, Pein turned to glance at the cage behind him, only to gain a wide-eyed look.

There, in the cage behind his back was a shadow of a being, a being he was quite familiar with if the glowing orange-red nine tails were any indication.

"SHIT!" exclaimed Pein as he started get tense.

"I told you to shut up, didn't I?" said Itachi as he walked forward to come and stand in middle of his companion and the beast.

"It's surprising to see you on this part of the seal, Kyuubi," said Itachi as his eyes stayed connected with the slits between the bars of the cage. The shadow started to walk forward towards the duo at a slow pace.

As it stepped out in the light, both the Akatsuki were a little shocked and a lot surprised at the same time.

"What the hell happened to you?!" shouted Pein as he saw the strange change in the Kyuubi.

(DON'T WORRY! KYUUBI IS NOT TURNING INTO A SEXY WOMAN)

This new Kyuubi was a little different from the last time they saw it. This Kyuubi was larger, at least double in size of the former Kyuubi. It's eyes where different as well, they were shining Blue with black slits. The last thing that changed was its color. Light grey-ish blue fur was covering this Kyuubi with a dark blue chakra shroud covering its form.

The Kyuubi gave a grunt in response before answering,

" **This isn't my true form Ningen! Because of the intertwined souls that we share, my soul and spiritual prowess are still linked to your soul, forcing me to travel all the way here. Not that I am fond of this type of living, your mind is ugly as you Humans could possibly have."**

"So what you are saying is that you are inside this body?" asked Pein, pointing a thumb to his chest.

" **As expected from you tiny brain, this is far beyond your understanding. Though I think this Uchiha could break it down to make it understandable to you, I still have my doubts though,"** Said the Kyuubi, punctuating his statement with boastful laughter.

"Hey, shut your trap you overly grown tailed freak! Answer my questions in straight words, otherwise-" shouted Pein as he tried to make a dangerous front in the eyes of the fox.

" **Otherwise what? YOU DARE THREATEN ME?! KEEP IN MIND WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO, FOR ME YOU NOTHING BUT A FLY ASKING TO BE CRUSHED UNDER MY PAW!"** Thundered the Kyuubi as it smashed its tails on the bars of the cage, forcing Pein to jump back in panic while Itachi only took a calm step backwards.

"Hey what the hell was that?! I knew you were a gender-confused freak but now you are a species confused dumb-head as well. I am a Human not a fly so improve your grammar!" exclaimed a panic stricken Pein as his Sharingan flared to life, sensing the killing intent being leaked by the bijuu.

' **So he doesn't know about** _ **it.**_ **It means be the Uchiha didn't tell him,'** thought the Kyuubi before lying down on the floor.

" **Alright, I will try using the language of your illiterate mind. My soul was linked with your at the time of the sealing performed by the Yondaime. The** _ **shiki fujin**_ **Yondaime used is powered by the shinigami itself, thus making it impossible to break. When your soul was transferred, my soul got transferred as well."**

Yawning in a break the Kyuubi continued, **" The seal is physically present on your former body, that's why my physical form and physical Youkai is still sealed in it. Whereas my soul and conscious, along with my spiritual manna is present here, with you. If you'll try channeling some of my manna, you'll see that the seal will appear on your abdomen as well,"** Finished the Kyuubi while eyeing the now serious Pein.

It's not like the Kyuubi was fond of this Pein persona, but it was just a little more tolerable than the former Naruto. The Kyuubi would prefer Pein over Naruto any day without giving it a second thought. The only thing it hated about Pein was that this 'NEW' host possessed something it despised with the very being of itself.

Sharingan.

Those accursed eyes were the soul reason why the humans even managed to tame the almighty Kyuubi no kitsune. No taming wasn't the suitable term, caging would be more precise, as the power of the Kyuubi was untamable. The nine tail's Youkai was so poisonous in its basic state that it could kill whole villages with just a whiff of it. The only thing or rather person the Kyuubi hated more than Sharingan was, Uchiha Madara and that imposter who control it on the night of the Konoha's destruction.

Still this body was somewhat tolerable as it had small yet omnipresent fragments of the Sages chakra.

The Rinnegan.

That was the only Doujutsu the Kyuubi could tolerate the presence of in its host. Those eyes gave the impression of power, something the Kyuubi was addicted to. If its host possessed those eyes of the legends, then maybe the Kyuubi no Kitsune would consider siding with him. Until then, as long as he doesn't go and get himself in a life threatening situation, Kyuubi will only observe his life from the inside.

"So is there any way this memory influx to cause less pain, I mean it's getting more painful by each passing day," asked Pein as he took a seat on the floor in front of the Kyuubi's large snout. Itachi just stood there and decided to try and observe how a Bijuu and a Jinchuriki conversed.

" **I shall refuse to help you and enjoy watching you wriggle in pain but you'll only start pestering and annoying me. So here is the idea, there is only one way for you to get some relief and that is dividing the memories in sections. Ever went to a library? Try stocking the memories in different shelves. It will reduce the pressure on your brain as well as the pain,"** answered the Kyuubi as it shifted its head on its front paws.

"Okay I can do that but any idea how long it will be before I receive all the memories?" asked Pein in a hopeful tone.

The Kyuubi gave him an irritated look for a whole minute before answering,

" **It will take around two more months, but be warned! The worst memories are yet to come, same goes for the pain."**

"What do you mean by worst memories?" asked Pein and Itachi at the same time.

" **I am not compiled to answer any of your questions, NOW LEAVE!"** said the Kyuubi in a commanding tone, leaving little to argue on.

"Tsk, I knew you were just trying to make my life more miserable, guess what, I think you might as well be a gay," muttered Pein under his breath, unfortunately for him, the Kyuubi heard him.

" **FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM A MALE KITSUNE! NOW LEAVE BEFORE I CHEW YOUR HEADS OFF!"**

 **FIVE MONTHS LATER**

 **KIRIGAKURE**

 **Battlefield**

A battered and bruised Hidan stood in the middle of a swamp of corpses, grinning maniacally as he gave the man in front him an evil look.

"what do you think we should do now, Deidara sucker?!" asked Hidan in his own personal style of conversation.

Deidara's eyebrow started to twitch as he tried control his anger. Hidan was just trying to taunt him and get him to start a fight with him, which would only end up being a nasty mistake on Deidara's part.

They were right now just outside the clearing where the camp of the rebels used to be. Now the civil war was over and the rebels had taken over the village without much effort seeing that our two mad Akatsukis had taken care of the other side.

The new Mizukage new about them and their activities on the battlefield, maybe that's why she had ordered her soldiers to retreat the second they spotted these two.

"Now I think we should deliver the special package to leader-sama. I am sure he would love to hear from us, hn!" answered Deidara as he made clay birds for both of them as well as the 'Package'.

Giving a long lingering glance to the battlefield under them, Deidara smirked,

"Explosion sure is an art!"

With that, the three birds took off, their destination? Amegakure.

 **AMEGAKURE**

 **Pein's office**

"Pein, Deidara and Hidan are back and they have brought a package with them, I think you should meet them right now," said Konan as she stood by Pein's side, a neutral expression present on her face as she stared at her leader.

"I know it's important and all that but I am not feeling well right now, tell them I will meet them in an hour or so," said Pein as he sat on the ledge of his balcony, a screaming statues head was coming out of the building under him.

Konan grew concerned and walked forward to stand behind him, giving him a once over for any kind of visible signs of sickness. Finding none, she moved forward and sat down beside him, looking over the raining clouds as they thundered with lightening once in a while.

The lightening was indicating that Pein wasn't feeling well emotionally. Even though rain was a common sight in Amegakure, one could hardly say that they have seen clouds thundering over their heads in the moist environment of Ame. Despite being a land of rain, lightening was a rare sight in Ame as the most of the rain was non-seasonal.

"What's the matter, why are you so upset all of a sudden? You know you can tell me anything right?" asked Konan as she placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look towards her.

Their eyes met and for once, Konan could swear she could see a lonely child in his eyes, desperate for some comfort. His eyes turned form left to right as he tried to come up with some explanation for his changed emotions.

"I think there is no lying to you. The Kyuubi is making it hard for me you know. ' _He'_ keeps sending in the nightmares of my birth night. The death of my parents, their last words about how much they loved me, how much they were going to miss me. The Kyuubi's paw driving through both of them as he roared in rage. They lifeless dull eyes of my mother and the small smile on my father's pale face as he sacrificed his soul for that cursed village," continued Pein as he struggled to maintain his composure.

Konan could see it was breaking him so she tried to come up with an idea to cheer him up.

"Pein, do you hate your father, the Yondaime, for sealing the Kyuubi in you?" asked Konan as she observed his facial features for any kind of emotion.

"No, I mean yes, I was angry for a while after finding out that the man who gave me the curse of my life was my own father but after gaining the memory of his last words-" said Pein as he remembered the words clear as crystal.

'You are my son and I am sure you can control the Kyuubi's power. I regret doing this to you but I have a duty to my people, I am sorry Naruto. I know you'll grow without any parents, without a finger to teach you how to walk, with the shoulders to give you a ride but know this. I'll always be watching over you and no matter what you do, I'll always be proud of you because you are my son and I love you.'

"-I am more angry at those villagers who he sacrificed his life and his son for. My father was a legendary shinobi and a noble man, but those bastards used his nobility for their own gain. How dare they treat me like they did after my father's sacrifice… after my sacrifice?"

Konan only gave a nod of understanding and squeezed his shoulder to show her support.

"Now I can see why you were the best suitable choice for the title of Pein of Ame. After all the hardships you endured in your short life in Konoha, all the pain and sufferings you had to go through, I would have been surprised if someone else was a better option," said Konan as she look forward at the now silent rain.

"How is your Fuinjutsu training going, not like there is someone here who could teach you but still," asked Konan in an attempt of changing the subject of their small talk.

For once Pein gave her a smile, a genuine smile that somehow managed to reach her heart, compiling her to give a smile of her own.

"It's good, I think I am at the intermediate level of the last book that you gave me. I can make seals in the air with my chakra when I am focusing to the fullest. Other than that, there are a few new seals I am working on, but I assure you, they are quiet useful," answered Pein honestly.

Konan gave him a suspicious look via her narrowed eyes but nodded nevertheless.

"So you were saying you are having trouble sleeping for the last couple of days?" she asked as he gave a short nod.

"why didn't you tell me or Itachi?" asked the brunette, curiosity getting the better of her as she tried to get to know the reason behind his actions.

"I um… well you see… I just wanted to deal with this problem of mine on my own. Concerning any of you any more will only increase your headache and believe me, I know what a bad headache feels like," said Pein as he started to stand up. Konan's gaze followed his every move as he started to walk towards his quarters.

"Where are you going?" asked Konan as she too stood up.

"I think I am gonna take a short nap, I can at least try to get a little nightmare free sleep in a while right?" answered Pein with sarcasm as he reached his room's door which was on the left side of his office.

"Alright I will tell Deidara and Hidan that you'll meet them in the evening," said Konan as she walked off. Pein just stood there, his eyes following Konan as she disappeared on the edge of the waiting hall. Sighing to himself for nearly losing control of his emotions in front of her, he unlocked the door and walked in, intending to get a nap.

 **After a while**

Pein had slept like a baby without a care in the world. Now he was starting to stir a little as he started to wake up from his not so short nap. Waking up, he glanced at the wall clock in the corner of his room and decided to head back to his office for his meeting with Deidara and Hidan.

It wasn't like he was looking forward to meet the too hard head Akatsukis but as their leader he was entitled to some miseries such as this one. Listening to Deidara brag about his so-called art while Hidan continuously swore for god knows how long, may be Jashin will know, meh.

Just as Pein resigned himself to his fate and tried to jump out of his bed as he always did, he felt a resistance around his chest. Trying again but failing again due to the same resistance, he decided to investigate the problem.

Removing the covers from his body, he confirmed that no one was sleeping over him. He was about to try again when a small moan from behind him forced him to freeze with shock. Looking again with more care this time, he spotted a pale hand clutching his torso tightly as the owner of that hand snored in the crock of his neck.

Tilting his head a little, he came face to face with a sleeping beauty named Konan. He gave her a confused look but started to get red in the face as the awkward situation sank in. jumping out of the bed with the speed of a victim of 'Thousand years of Pain' he nearly smashed his head in the ceiling.

He landed in a heap on his bedside as Konan woke up from all the commotion. Looking around for Pein, she failed to notice him lying on the floor on the other side of the bed, twitching occasionally. Finally, Pein stood up and started to stutter and sprouting nonsense.

"Hey I… I mean we… didn't do THAT right?" she asked with nervousness.

Konan gave him a knowing look before removing the covers to show her still fully clothed minus her cloak.

"I just thought that if you were having trouble sleeping on your own then maybe you'll feel better sleeping with someone else," she said while rising from the bed and downing her cloak around her figure.

"Yeah it did help and I had a great sleep but… where are you going?" asked frowning Pein as he saw her reaching for the doorknob. Turning around, she gave him a raise of eyebrow before answering.

"WE are going to meet with Deidara and Hidan. They arrived back from their mission today, remember?"

"Oh, right those two. Let me just get my cloak" said Pein as he hurriedly threw his cloak over his shoulders as he exited the quarters along with the blue haired beauty. 

**TOBI'S HIDEOUT**

"Again! I do not want a failure as my disciple! Start over again!" said Tobi in a stern voice as he sat in his throne while observing the training of Obito.

From his face, one could tell that he was a little frustrated as his disciple was giving him some trouble in learning the fighting style of all the Uchiha's. The problem was the brute strength behind his every attack. The Uchiha intercepting style was based on quick maneuvering and striking at lightening fast speed. That's right speed, not strength. Obito on the other hand was still struggling with the style as his body was built as that of a Senju. The power behind his attacks was far too great for the style to balance it out.

SWISCH!

Another Zetsu clone went down to his knees, clutching his chest cavity, which was now turned to mush thanks to Obito's single devastating strike. All the remaining Zetsu clones jumped back as one of them suffered his fate in the middle of the arena.

Just as they were about to continue their fight again, the original Zetsu appeared in the middle of the arena. Obito paused in mid swing of his left feet as his knee came within an inch of Zetsu's face.

"Don't interrupt EVER again," said Obito in calm yet deadly tone which would have made Uchiha Madara proud. Slowly he eased in a standing position as the Zetsu clones hurried out of the arena, glad to have bestowed a few more ours of existence.

"What happened, Zetsu? I don't think I called you," asked Tobi as he stood up from his throne and started to walk towards the two forms of his subordinates.

" **My apologizes but I have something you requested a while back,"** answered Zetsu as he bent down and touched the floor with his left hand while his right rose to form a ram seal.

The floor parted in front of him to reveal a coffin. The coffin rose from the floor to its full height as the seal on it shone proudly in front of the Sharingan holder. It was a normal looking coffin with the same shape as any other but there was a conservation seal present on its head.

"What is it for?" asked Tobi with a raised eyebrow.

" **Why didn't you ask for a partner for Obito? This is the individual that I judged to be the best choice for the job,"** answered Zetsu as he moved forward to approach the coffin.

Raising his hand, he laced it with chakra before placing it on top of the seal. The seal started to glow a bright red before shimmering away in an oddly manner. Moving back, he placed his other hand on top of the lid and gave it a tug to open it. He had to jump back a little as the lid nearly came falling down on his toes.

The coffin opened to reveal a female, a definite Kunoichi if her well maintained body was any indication. She was quite tall and reached around Tobi's ear level in height. Her hair were made in a spiky bun behind her head while some strands of her blue her fell in front of her face as well. Her lips were ruby red due to some long done make up and a little dried blood alike.

She was garbed in a green jacket with a red under shirt while she was wearing a pair of blue pants. A light purple slash was holding her jacket in place around her waist. Grey-ish blue eyeshade was complimenting her closed eyelids as her chest rose and fell with her breathing.

"Who is she and where did you get her from?" asked Tobi as he stared at the woman in front of his eyes.

As far as he was concerned, this woman was giving off an aura of a determined fighter who will do anything to overcome her opponent. As for Obito, if his master approved of her, then there was nothing he will object about, for his master knew everything, which was good for him.

" **Oh, you see until recently she was a loyal subordinate of a long time enemy. I found her in the outskirts of Nami no Kuni where she was stationed. She has some useful abilities including an extinct Kekkei Genkai. I tried to knock her out but she is a determined fighter so I ended up killing her but don't worry, I merely knocked her in a comatose state. She will be a powerful partner for Obito,"** answered Zetsu as he glanced at the knocked out woman.

"Yet you yourself said she was loyal to her former master, what did you do to make sure she doesn't betray me in future?" asked Tobi as he could now sense the power coming from the woman. It wasn't anywhere near his level or that of any other Akatsuki, but it was still quite impressive.

" **I knew you'd ask that. I brainwashed her before using some of my experimental liquids on her. She is now just like Obito was a year ago, ready to be molded in any way you deem necessary,"** said Zetsu as he continued to spare glances towards Tobi through the corner of his yellow orb of an eye.

"What was her name again?" this time it was Obito who asked the question.

" **Her name is Guren."**

 **In the Meeting**

 **Pein's Office**

Pein was sitting in his seat while Konan stood behind him on his left side. In front of him were the two biggest idiots of Akatsuki, Deidara and Hidan. Luckily, both of them had performed outstanding in their last mission in Kirigakure's civil war.

Now grinning like a maniac, Hidan was standing in front of them while hefting his scythe on his right shoulder, displaying his blood covered torso. They had a complete afternoon to do whatever they wanted yet this dumb head forgot to take a bath after returning from a bloody mission.

Deidara on the other hand was giving him a cocky smirk that was suspiciously giving a feeling of lack of information to Pein. Maybe there was something he knew that Pein didn't. either way, those expressions were just begging to get wiped right off of their faces as Pein tried not to just punch both of them in the face.

"Get your horses under control and get on with the report will you," said Pein in an irritated voice.

Deidara looked at Hidan, who only gave him a swing of his scythe, indicating the stage was all his for taking.

Grunting a bit in annoyance, Deidara stepped forward and started to report.

"As ordered, we infiltrated the damn country, did some information gathering not thanks to this zombie standing here," he said pointing at Hidan who just gave him a middle finger, causing Deidara to growl.

"Then we found the bases of both sides and started to spy on them, it seems that the Mizukage was trying everything in his power to kill off every Kekkei Genkai holder, while this beauty named Mei Terumi was leading the rebels because apparently she has two Kekkei Genkais."

Finally we started to take action in favor of the rebels as you ordered that we need a new leader in Kiri for our plans to advance. Mei Terumi is quite a smart chick as she ordered her men to get their asses out of our ways whenever we appeared. Good thing she did because in the rush of the battle, Hidan almost sacrificed few of the rebels, hehe,"

Pein's eyebrow twitched as he massaged his head. A headache was coming, that was something he was sure of.

"Anyways, we ended the war by using my C4 on half a platoon of Yondaime Mizukage's shinobis. Those bitches didn't even know what hit them until my art reduced them to ashes. Them the rebels came and we decided to howl our asses out of there before an awkward moment could take place between Hidan and Mei. Later we heard that she was instated as the Godaime Mizukage of Kiri and is building the village back so it can be restored to its former glory. Damn man that was a long ass reporting right?" finished Deidara as he tried to take a seat in front of Pein.

"You do realize what you are about to do right?" asked Konan as she saw him pulling a chair.

Deidara stopped in mid action and stared at her before focusing on Pein's face, which displayed hidden anger. Gulping audibly, he backed off and stood beside Hidan.

"And what is this about a package I am hearing, anything I should know?" asked Pein as he gave them a sore eye.

"Yeah, I am sure you'll love it, him, whatever you want to call that bitch. Just make sure you teach that bastard a lesson, he nearly beheaded me and in absence of Kakuzu I would have been forced to carry my own head back here to get a fix! I hope you don't mind the blood because it's his blood and I am not washing it for a while, it's like a trophy for me ya know!" shouted Hidan in a much lower volume than he was famous for among the Akatsuki.

"Deidara can I see this package, NOW?!" exclaimed Pein as his head started to ache. Konan just gave his shoulder a squeeze as she looked at him sympathetically.

Deidara made a motion with his hand and a couple of soldiers of Amegakure came in with a huge ass scroll. They placed it in the middle of the room and left the Akatsukis to their own business. Deidara came forward and knelt down to shuffle with the scroll.

There was a puff of smoke before it dispersed to reveal a ninja of Kiri. A Kiri head band with a badanda on his head, grey colored hair with an eye patch on his right eye.

"We found this bitch trying to follow us, he nearly succeeded in sneaking on us but alas, things happened and here we are," said Deidara as the shinobi remained unconscious.

"What's so special about him that forced you to go through so much trouble of bring him here?" asked Konan as she walked forward.

Deidara just lifted the eye patch to reveal a Byakugan eye.

"Konan, take a look at that eye for me after this meeting alright?" asked Pein with narrowed eyes as Konan gave him a nod of understanding.

"Now for the bigger price, hehe let me present you, this bastard!" exclaimed Hidan as he unsealed a short figure.

This new figure had grey blond hair with green covering around his neck, a pair of grey shirt and pants was covering his bloodied body as his pink eyes stared at Pein in disdain.

Konan gasped but succeeded in controlling herself, while Pein walked forward and knelt down in front of the short figure. Hidan and Deidara gave him a confused look which went unnoticed by the Akatsuki leader.

"Hello Yagura, Yondaime Mizukage."

 **TO BE CONTINUED….**

 **AMAZING FACT**

**The three legendary Sannins, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru exist as characters from a novel named "The Ballad of the Hero Jiraiya," published in 1839.**

 **PUBLIC ANSWER**

 **A lot of readers and reviewers have pointed out that the plot is still unclear to many of them, I'll say this. Its only starting guys, I will tell you this, I have a complete schedule planned for at least 25-27 chapters for this one but I think it will end up getting more than 35 chapters or so. bare with me and thinks will start to get clearer from the next chapter I promise.**

 **As always, if you are kind enough to give this fanfic the time of the day, then please try reviewing. Praise, question, requests, advise, hell even flames are welcome.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **-NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799(Author)**

 **OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**


	5. things are being set

**POLL!**

 **There is a poll up on my profile regarding the potential pairing of Naruto(Obito), please make sure to drop a vote as you read this. It will be up until the release of the next chapter, ^_^**

 **Review RESPONSE**

 **Ezeakel:** Ah my buddy, Thanks for the answer/review and let me know what you think about this chapter.

 **StrikerTheFallen:** I assure you, Pein will come across his former body sooner then you expect. He won't be using it as a path though, he may use it as a chakra battery, but we can't be too sure about it as well. Only time will tell. Thanks for the continuous reviews on each chapter, I appreciate it.

 **Lara5170:** Thanks for reviewing three of my chapters. I think your questions in the first two reviews were answered in the last chapter but I will answer your questions to the best of my abilities.

Everyone is unaffected because the council had informed them that Naruto is on a long term mission outside the village so as long as the other shinobis are concerned, Naruto is still alive. Obito (Naruto) is very much alive. The soul, as I see it, represents a person's way of thinking, ideas, morals, his ties with other people and personality. At the end of the day, brain is still a part of the body so the brain is still functioning but its reaches are limited due to some unmentionable reasons.

Also I would like to make it clear, his chakra network was BEING DESTROYED. Because of the battle of dominance b/w Kyuubi's and the cursed seal's chakras, his pathways were being destroyed faster than his healing factor could heal them. Once that host dies, the curse seal's chakra leaves the body to return back to its original source, Orochimaru. It would be explained when he joins Akatsuki.

Healing isn't an attribute of Rinnegan, so Nagato was unable to use it. I think you are referring to the way the king of hell restores his paths. Think about it, if he could use such a technique, than he would've used it to heal his own body, right? As for Nagato's body, its somewhere safe which will be revealed at the right time. I'll tell you this, it was hidden by Konan and Itachi.

 **Danny Williams:** Thanks for the review and I assure you BOTH Pein and Naruto WILL pay Konoha a visit. I am planning to make it at least three chapters long and it will be MIND BLOWING!

 **Iywe:** Thanks for the review! I am looking forward to the next chapters as well hehehe.

 **XeroSoul32:** Thanks for the review, this story really is my own original idea and I spent at least a year in planning it out and yet, it takes me three weeks to layout each chapter, which means it's thought out as hell. I gave you suggestion some thought and I agree with you.

 **Disclaimer:** Yeah that's right, I own this very fanfiction, and as for Naruto, I haven't even heard about that series.

 **CHAPTER-5**

 **Announcement:** I read about how 'Obito'X'Naruto' was confusing some readers. So for facilitating the reading experience I have decided to address Naruto's body as Naruto and it will be called Obito only when the characters communicate. 

"So Sasuke-Kun, what do you think, can you kill all of them on your own?" asked Kabuto with a smirk plastered on his face. Smirking at the hesitant yet stoic look on the Uchiha's face, Kabuto pulled a lever on the sidewall. The cage like doors of the holding cells started to open as the failed experiments of Orochimaru started fill out of the cages.

RWAAAAA!

Came a roar from the crowd of mad people as Sasuke activated his sharingan, his sharingan was still having the problem with his Mangekyou. He had chalked it to the lack of closure with Naruto at the time of his death. After all, what other reason was possible for such a case of abnormality to occur.

"Go on Sasuke-Kun, we haven't got all day you know," said a smirking Kabuto in a cocky voice, oh he will enjoy seeing the Uchiha struggle.

"What's making you smirk like that Kabuto, do you seriously want me to wipe that smirk of yours with my blade?" said Sasuke in a monotone, effectively wiping the smirk off of the medic's face.

"Don't try using that tone with your betters Sasuke-Kun or you'll end up regretting it," Said a frowning Kabuto as he glared at the Uchiha while adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"I don't see any of my betters here or were you referring to yourself?"

The scowl on Kabuto's face deepened as he struggled to find a suitable reply to that. Who was he fooling anyways, he knew Sasuke was strong enough deliver a fatal wound in a fraction of a second. Not to mention that the Uchiha was smart enough to come up with a counter for his special fast healing technique.

"What happened to Orochimaru, why isn't he here to teach me?" asked Sasuke though he had his suspicions about the absence of the snake Sannin.

"Orochimaru-Sama isn't feeling well, and will not train you for maybe a month so I suggest you try getting cozy with these new friends of yours," answered Kabuto as he turned around and started to walk out of the dungeons.

Sasuke stared at the retreating figure of the silver haired medic. After getting rid of Itachi, the only one Sasuke will take the time of his day to kill was Yakushi Kabuto. The med-nin was starting to become more and more cocky by each passing day.

Though he just gave him a good news. If Orochimaru was really suffering from the decaying of his current body then it meant Sasuke will never get a better opportunity in getting out of Orochimaru's control.

"(Cough, cough, cough) Kabuto, how is Sasuke-Kun's training coming up, I –" before the snake Sannin could finish his sentence he was overcome by another coughing fit which was becoming a frequent occurrence.

Kabuto stared at his master with worry shining in his eyes behind the spectacles as he increased his speed of grinding the herbs for the Sannin's medicine. Finishing yet another long sequence of coughs, Orochimaru slowly lowered his palm from his mouth. Dark red blood was glittering on his hand, which didn't go unnoticed by the medic in the room.

"Sasuke-Kun's training is going at a considerate pace Orochimaru-Sama, but if I may," asked a hesitant Kabuto as Orochimaru gave him a nod.

"Sasuke-Kun is getting ahead of himself. His behavior is changing suspiciously and I am sure there is something going on in his mind, which won't good for us. Sensing the changes in his behavior and your degrading health, I'd suggest the soul transfer ritual must be performed in the next couple of days," completed Kabuto as he finished grinding the herbs.

"I know Kabuto, Sasuke-Kun is planning something but both of us know that whatever he plans, he will never succeed as long as I am alive. I will have his body and then I will have those eyes, sharingan ku ku ku ku," said Orochimaru as he placed a hand on the left side of his face.

Kabuto walked towards the bed of the snake Sannin and handed him the saucer containing the freshly made medicine. Orochimaru took the saucer and without giving it a second thought, downed all of its contents in his mouth. As soon as he drank the bad tasting medicine, his body gave another lurch and he started to cough violently. The saucer fell from his hand and smashed into the stone floor of the room, pieces flying in every corner.

"I'll be going now, we have a situation in the south hideout, after Guren's disappearance that places is still in an uproar." Informed Kabuto as he walked towards the door and quickly left the room. Disappearing in the dark corridors of the hideout.

Just as Kabuto left, Sasuke appeared in front of the room. His sword drawn and a look of determination in his eyes, both of which showed the level three sharingan.

Opening the door, he walked in to find a sick Orochimaru resting on the bed. Upon his arrival, the Sannin opened his eyes and stared at him for a while, before giving a chuckle as the response.

"Sasuke-Kun, even when I knew you'll be making your move soon, I didn't know it would be right now," said the paled skinned man as he sat upright in his bed, hands on his lap.

"If you knew I'll be coming then it's safe to assume you also know why I am here?" asked Sasuke as his grip on his sword tightened.

"Of course, or have you forgotten who am I?" asked Orochimaru in response.

"I thought it was your teammates field of work, never pictured you as the information gathering type," answered Sasuke as he started to walk towards the bed.

Orochimaru just chuckled in response as prepared himself for the soul transfer ritual. Just as he raised his hand to make the necessary handseal, Sasuke threw his sword at him and pinned his hand to the back wall. The sword was covered in lightening chakra and started to send jolts of lightening in the Sannin's body.

Orochimaru greeted his teeth as he struggled to get the sword out of his palm. Before he could succeed a set of shurikens came flying from Sasuke's hands, covered in chakra, and pinned him down on his bed.

"Even the great snake Sannin is nothing when suffering from illness, such a pity. I would have fought you more just for the fun of it, but in this state of being, you'll only struggle to keep that body from falling apart in the middle of the fight," said Sasuke as he started to go through a set of famous handseal. Orochimaru's eyes grew wide in alarm on recognizing the seals.

" **Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (fire release: great fireball technique) "**

A blazing ball of fire came out of Sasuke's mouth and sped towards the pinned Sannin at blinding speed. It smashed in the wall and singled the whole side of the room. Orochimaru's screams of agony were soon resounding in the hallways as the Sannin was nearly burnt to crisp.

Finally when Sasuke cancelled the Jutsu, the fire died down, revealing a body of Orochimaru with third degree burns covering it, smoking coming out of various parts of the body. The smell of burnnt flesh filled the air as the snake Sannin started to cough loudly. On hearing the coughing, Sasuke turned to glance at his face again.

Blood was dripping from Orochimaru's lips as he struggled to recover from the coughing fit and third degree burn alike. Frowning a little, Sasuke fully turned around to face the Sannin again.

"I admit I underestimated you Orochimaru. I thought one of those will be enough to kill you but now I see I was wrong. It must be hurting a lot right? Don't worry, I'll be merciful and this next one will definitely end you pathetic existence," said Sasuke as he started to go through the same hand seals.

He was interrupted by the sudden evolvement of Orochimaru's coughing into a full blown laughter.

"Ku ku ku ku, You really think you can kill me Sasuke-Kun? That I would be a fool enough to teach you EVERYTHING I know? You are a hundred years early in your attempt of killing me boy," came the voice from behind the smoke.

As Sasuke stared at the smoke he saw Orochimaru's body changing. Thousands and thousands of snakes started to come out of his skin and cover him. His mouth started to stretch at inhuman lengths as his hair stared to cover his face.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

One by one, the shurikens embedded in his body started to fall on the floor and finally his sword joined the projectile weapons as well.

Sasuke backed away just as a huge a snake emerged from the smoke. Yellow shining eyes started at him in a mixture of greed and anger. A snake like tongue coming out of its mouth again and again. Black hair of Orochimaru adorning the snakes head and white scales coving the rest of the body.

"You really think you can kill me? I knew that you'll try to kill me and I decided to let that happen. That's why you succeeded in attacking me just a moment ago. But now that you know how hopeless you are I will take your body as my soul's next vessel. Prepare to be devoured Uchiha!" thundered the Snake as it gave a dangerous hiss.

Sasuke immediately started to form hand seals at a fast pace. Determined to get out of this hideout and fulfill his lifelong ambition. Unfortunately, a sword came out of the snakes mouth and went straight through his right palm and shoulder, effectively filling out any use of ninjutsu in the fight.

The snake reared back before springing forward and devouring the upper torso of the Uchiha.

 **Inside Orochimaru's world**

Sasuke found himself in a dark world. Wherever he looked, all he could see was darkness stretched to the end of the horizon. He was about to start looking around when suddenly a cage appeared around him, along with Orochimaru.

"This is my world Sasuke-Kun, now you can't escape from here. I will get that body no matter how much you try to resist," said Orochimaru as he gave him a smirk, ready to devour him.

Sasuke tried to move but much to his dismay, there was a fleshy thing bubbling under him, clinging to his feet as it rose higher and higher on his body. He again tried to move, this time focusing on the resistance on his lower body, but all he managed was a twist of his neck. Slowly but surely, he realized that it wasn't the pinkish goo that was restricting his movement, it was his own body which was refusing to obey him.

All he could feel was the contracting muscles in his biceps and shins as he made a decision. He will need some extra help to break out of this mess, a power boost, something strong enough to sting the Sannin in order to provide him a chance of escaping this world. Coming up with a plan that was the only course of action possible at the time being, Sasuke stopped his struggling and closed his eyes.

"Finally submitting yourself to me eh, Sasuke Kun?" teased Orochimaru as a grin started to spread across his face.

After three long years of finding the Uchiha, giving him the curse seal, seducing him for power and finally training him for almost two and a half year, he was now going to get what he had planned for so long. Sharingan, the ultimate doujutsu that will allow him to copy countless jutsus for study and research in making himself truly immortal.

Just as the pink goo started to reach for Sasuke's neck, his curses seal started to flare up and tribal flame patterns started to appear on his skin. Purple chakra started to seep out of the seal as it battled the soul transfer jutsu Orochimaru was using. This surprised Orochimaru because the curse seal was an extension of his own soul and right now, it was fight his own chakra right in front of his eyes.

"What kind of treachery is this?!" exclaimed Orochimaru as he struggled to maintain the jutsu.

Unfortunately, before he could handle the wobbling balance of his chakra, he made mistake of staring at Sasuke's right eye. Sasuke opened his right eye to reveal his Mangekyou sharingan spinning madly, focusing on the Sannin Sasuke sent a huge load of his chakra to his right eye. The eye started to bleed as the Sannin suddenly found himself losing the control of the world. One by one, cracks started to appear in the dark world as the genjutsu started to lift off.

 **Back in real world**

Sasuke soon found himself standing on the floor with his bust in the jaws of the Snake. instantly using a short burst of Raiton chakra, he electrocuted the snake, forcing it to back off with a dangerous hiss of pain and anger. Taking out the sword still pinned in his shoulder, Sasuke used the same sword and jumped towards the snake with anger flashing in his eyes.

Now back to his normal sharingan, Sasuke gave the snake transformed Sannin a kick to the left side of his face while using his unused arm to ram a short chidori under the snake's chin. The snake recoiled backwards in pain and collided with the back wall of the room. Taking the small moment of disturbance as an excellent opportunity, Sasuke ran forward and impaled the throat of the snake with the sword. It went straight through the lower jaw and came out from the middle of its eyes finally ending its journey at the point of a good four inches inside the wall.

As the snake's struggling came to a stop, Sasuke raised his hand to his face and wiped the blood leaking from his right eye. He stood there for a moment, staring at the blood smeared on his palm, trying to contemplate what he will do next.

Finally, he decided to just leave the hideout as soon as possible lest gamble the chances of getting all the Kusa shinobi hot on his tail.

Standing and looking around for his sword, Sasuke soon spotted the blue handled sword buried in the floor near the gate. Walking briskly to the door, he retrieved his sword before turning around to stare at the snake still impaled on the wall.

"Tsk"

And the door was slammed shut.

Just as the chakra signature of Uchiha Sasuke left the vicinity, the stomach of the snake started to contract. Pulsing a little before being torn from the inside, the stomach parted to reveal a gasping snake Sannin. Orochimaru came out of the snake's body on trembling legs before collapsing on the floor, his hands shooting upwards to massage his throat.

Even though his physical appearance was that of a defeated shinobi, his eyes shone with barely contained rage towards the Uchiha responsible for his condition.

"KABUTO!"

 **Outside the Hideout**

 **7 miles in west**

Looking behind all he could see was fast moving lush green tree leaves and branches as he jumped from tree to tree at his best speed at the current moment. Fighting Orochimaru in his own world had been quite taxing on him as he was suffering from the back lash of using the Mangekyou.

Now he was seriously regretting not training his Mangekyou in his time under Orochimaru's wing. Now, he knew that Itachi wasn't just going to come to him, looking for a fight. If he wanted to fight the elder Uchiha then he will have to track him down. Tracking down a shinobi was not an easy task though and tracking down an Akatsuki was even more nerve wrecking task then killing a hundred bandits.

Sasuke was many things, he was strong, smart, cunning, conservative but a fool was not one of them. He knew that to find a whereabouts of Itachi, he will have to track a member of the international criminal organization. If the situation went out of control and he was forced to fight an Akatsuki, it would definitely spell trouble for him.

Akatsuki members weren't the shinobi one would try to have a faceoff with, they were ranked S class for a reason after all. To take down any shinobi of that much caliber, he will need help and he knew exactly where to look that's why he was going to the western hideout in the country of waterfalls. Two potential recruits were stationed in that hideout and Sasuke was sure they will join him in his conquest.

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when his sharingan caught a hint of movement in front of his location. Without stopping for even a second, he started to draw his sword from its sheath.

Right as he was about to reverse his grip on the sword's handle, a figure appeared on the horizon of his sight as the dark shadow of the person travelled at lightning speed on the forest floor. Before Sasuke could balance his grip on the sword, the figure stepped on a tree branch before jumping forward with tremendous strength, reducing the branch to splinters.

The figure was flying right towards him as Sasuke steeled his resolve to fight this stranger. However, the figure completely ignored the presence of the Uchiha and twisted himself a little and passed the startled Sasuke with a hair thick space to spare. The person had his eyes focused forwards as the time slowed considerably while Sasuke's sharingan tried to study the person.

Just the way the person now confirmed shinobi had appeared, he disappeared behind Sasuke as Sasuke came to a sudden halt in his flight. Landing swiftly on a branch, Sasuke processed the visual information his sharingan has managed to gather about the stranger in that fraction of a second. Blonde hair, fair skin, tall, almost as tall as Sasuke, and that cloak.

The Akatsuki cloak.

May be he can finally get some information on the way of fighting of at least one of their members. If everything went as he hoped it would, he will get to copy that Akatsuki's fighting style as well.

With his next course of action present in his mind, Sasuke took a one eighty and quickly started to head back towards Orochimaru's hideout's direction. What he couldn't quite understand was what was this Akatsuki doing in this area of the forest. As far as Orochimaru told him, the Akatsuki were not pleased by the sudden betrayal of Orochimaru and wanted something back from him, something of great importance to the organization.

May be this Akatsuki was here to collect that important thing. If that was right, then he was definitely heading towards the hideout to face Orochimaru. He may have failed to kill the Sannin himself, but he had wounded him pretty badly and that would definitely play in the Akatsuki's favor.

Looking forward Sasuke failed to spot the cloaked figure that he was following. The Akatsuki was fast, too fast for his liking and to top it off Sasuke himself wasn't moving at his top speed because of the fatigue his body was feeling after facing of a Sannin, even if the said Sannin was ill.

With his next destination set as the hideout, Sasuke pushed his body t its limit to at least get there in time for some opportunity of taijutsu copying.

….

 **Orochimaru's Hideout**

 **Throne room**

Orochimaru was standing in front a group of shinobi widely known as the sound four. One his left was Kabuto and on his right was Kimimaru. The last know wielder of dead bone pulse was glaring at his feet as he remembered how many times that damn Uchiha had belittled him in front of his master.

'Try using those skinny bones of yours against my sword, it will make it clear that you are beneath me.'

Those words were still fresh in his memory and he'll make him eat those words for his master. To think he had the nerve to attack Orochimaru-sama in his own lair? Kimimaru always knew there was something weird with the way the Uchiha acted around the hideout. He had pointed out the fact in front of Orochimaru, but the Sannin had supported the Uchiha. Now the same Uchiha had betrayed them.

Nothing new there after all, for the sake of more power, he was willing to betray his own home village, a village as powerful as Konoha. He was seriously either out of his mind or lacking in the field of brains. The sound four were upset with the Uchiha as well because in order to fetch him, they had nearly died. If they hadn't retreated when the Konoha's reinforcements arrived then they would have been buried under the ground somewhere right now.

"All four of you, head to a separate hideout and deliver the message, Uchiha Sasuke is to be hunted down throughout the elemental nations. I want his body, he possesses the last pair Sharingan I need in order to gain the unimaginable power. Complete this task and I will give you reward you can only imagine," ordered Orochimaru as he downed a vile full of purple liquid.

As soon as the liquid entered his body, he started to feel better. The color of his skin began to turn pale instead of the dull one it previously was. His eyes started to shine as they used to and his back started to straighten.

The sound four kneeled down in front of their master and in unison only seen in well trained shinobi answered.

"As you wish Orochimaru-sama!"

 **BOOOOOOM!**

The roof of the throne room collapsed like a leaf as it came crashing down on the floor of the hideout hidden beneath. A cloud of dust and smoke erupted from the spot where the broken part of the ceiling crashed and obscured the view of everyone in the area.

"Orochimaru, Akatsuki have summoned you" came a calm and collected voice from behind the dust cloud.

Quickly using a short burst of futon chakra Orochimaru pushed the dust out of the room via the newly made hole in the ceiling. The dust disappeared to reveal a crouching form of a male adorning the famous cloak of the Akatsuki. Blonde hair were all that greeted them as they reached in front of his face all the way to the edge of his lips. He also had a thick ponytail on the back of his neck with a necklace gleaming on his neck.

"Who are you if I may ask because I don't remember you being in the Akatsuki?" asked Orochimaru as he started to handle the situation in the best way he deduced.

The man didn't answer, instead he stood up to his full height, revealing a face long since thought to be dead. Orochimaru was sure, even if the whisker marks were absent, this was the face of one Uzumaki Naruto. However, what actually caught his eye was the blank expression the Uzumaki's face. Quickly motioning towards his shinobi in the room, Orochimaru soon had Naruto surrounded by his sound five plus Kimimaru from all sides.

"Ah, Naruto Kun, such a surprise, I thought Sasuke Kun killed you at the valley of end?" asked Orochimaru with a threatening sideways glance at Kabuto who flinched.

"…"

"What's this no words? No proclamations about becoming the hokage? Or defeating Sasuke Kun?" asked Orochimaru, trying push the blonde to give him something, anything.

"…."

"I see. It only the face which remains of the old Naruto I knew huh. Well who knows, maybe you still are as weak as those years ago. We'll find out eventually right?" again tried Orochimaru.

"…."

"What are you here for? Come on tell me," asked Orochimaru, finally feeling insulted by the lack of reply from the blonde standing in front of him.

Naruto said nothing, but he raised his right hand and pointed at the ring secured on Orochimaru's index finger of his left hand.

"All the property of the Akatsuki must be recovered," said the Akatsuki.

Orochimaru glanced down at the ring and gave of a smirk. Therefore, the brat was here for the ring, Orochimaru wasn't fool enough to just give up such a valuable asset. This ring had helped him in evading the Akatsuki for so long, there was no way he was giving up a ring of such importance now.

"Sorry Naruto Kun, but you see I don't want to give it up. So why don't you try and play with my colleagues. I am sure they will entertain you," said Orochimaru as he turned around and took a seat on his throne.

Naruto gave no indication of answering as the sound four started to encircle him, weapons at ready. Tilting his head a little, he eyed the largest man among the group who suddenly went stiff as stick before going back to normal. Others seemed not to notice it and started to prepare to take out the man posing threat to their master.

Just they tried to attack the blond, Jirobo (is that right?) jumped in front of the web shooting ally of his before assaulting him with lightning fast punches. This caught everyone else by surprise, which Naruto utilized with pleasure as he shot forward and using a wind enhanced fist, tore out the obvious leader's abdomen. The unlucky guy started trying to somehow stop the bleeding but soon met the ground with a loud thud.

Just after a few seconds, Jirobo was finished two as his opponent was beaten to a pulp. Tayuya, who was scared shit less, jumped back to gain some distance. She was confused why Jirobo will suddenly start attacking them instead of the Akatsuki standing in front of them. Before she could solve the puzzle, Naruto suddenly disappeared, making her tighten her guard as her eyes darted from side to side.

Naruto appeared behind Jirobo, a short tanto gleaming in his hand as he delivered a strike, separating his head from his body in one swift motion and thus effectively ending the life of the third member of the sound four squad. Tayuya was too shocked to do anything to save the fat shinobi but she managed to gather here thoughts and calm her nerves. Naruto was about to move towards Tayuya in order to finish her off when she suddenly took out a flute and started to play a melody.

Naruto felt his vision go blur as the genjutsu of the melody started to have its effect on his field of vision. Fortunately, this was a visual genjutsu which meant that his sharingan could cancel it out easily. Shooting forwards towards a scared Tayuya, Jirobo's head still in his hand, Naruto made a bee line towards Orochimaru. Just as he had anticipated, Tayuya jumped in front of him in order to obstruct his path. Following the strategy he had come up with earlier, Naruto jumped towards her and without using his tanto he just pushed the dead man's head in her hands before shoving her to the side.

"Hold this," Said Naruto in a monotone as he completely ignored her expression of disbelief and leaped away from her, in the direction of Orochimaru.

Just as he landed on the floor, Tayuya's ears caught a sizzling sound which made her eyes go wide with realization. Attached to the back of Jirobo's head was an explosive note, an ACTIVATED explosive note. She quickly tried to throw it away but only managed to avoid having it explode in her own face.

 **BOOOM!**

Out of the smoke came the flying body of a limp Tayuya who was either dead or at the very least knocked out.

Landing in front of the seated snake Sannin Naruto pointed his tanto towards the finger adorning the ring.

"Return the ring and I will make it as quick as possible for you," said the Akatsuki as he pushed some lightening chakra in the tanto, making it go bright blue to emphasize his words.

"Ku ku ku ku, you have seriously grown into a fine shinobi Naruto Kun. To take out the sound four within a span of mere sixty seconds like that. Unfortunately you have sparked my interest in that body of yours. Yes you see, the body of a Jinchuriki is full of secrets, dangerous yet interesting and fascinating. May that's the reason I tried kidnapping your mother Kushina-"

Hearing this Naruto started to feel a headache, a headache that felt like someone was ringing bells in his brain, a hammer hammering at your brain's nerve cells. Deep inside the head of the blond shinobi, a seal appeared out of nowhere and started to vibrate.

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

Naruto staggered on his feet as he reached for his head with his left hand, covering his eyes and forehead. Orochimaru, on seeing the effects of his talk, smiled and with a smirk continued.

"Those nuke Iwa nins were such a failure, being defeated by a brat such as that Namikaze-"

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

"I should have taken that red head for myself, killed the Nuke nins as well as that blondie-"

Faster.

Faster.

Faster.

"Then I could have killed her myself and used her body the way I saw fit,"

 **CRACK!**

A crack appeared on the seal as its vibration came to a halt. The swaying of Naruto also came to a sudden stop as his sharingan activated automatically. Staring at his hand as he was still covering his forehead and eyes with it, Naruto quickly regained his stoic composure as he remembered the training of his master. He was sure Zetsu was somewhere in this area, recording the events to show then to his master.

This was a test, a test his master had assigned him. According to him, this will help in getting him in the Akatsuki. Hearing a couple of names will not stop him from completing the task given to him. The task of the retrieval of the eleventh ring and the execution of Orochimaru. May be he should have taken up that offer of help Guren had offered.

Deactivation his sharingan, he removed his hand from his face as he stared at the Sannin in mild boredom. His eyes showing annoyance as he was getting fed up with this guy calling him Naruto Kun. Who the hell was this Naruto fella wasn't his concern, but as far as he could remember he was Uchiha Obito, his master's only pupil.

"Kabuto, Kimimaru Kun, kill him please I have had enough of his intrusion in our matters," ordered Orochimaru as his expression suddenly became that of an irritated father displeased by his children.

""Hai Orochimaru Sama!"" came the reply from both shinobi as they sprang into action and jumped towards Naruto.

Sensing danger Naruto leaped away just as hundreds of bone spikes rained on his position, curtsey pf Kimimaru. Landing in a crouching position, Naruto sensed another attack coming from his right and twisted his body just in time to dodge the lethal chakra scalp of Kabuto. Twisting his body further and grabbing the out stretched arm of the med nin, Naruto delivered a bone shattering kick to Kabuto's right shoulder.

Kabuto was sent flying as Kimimaru appeared in front of Naruto, two of his elbow bones in his hands, and started to shower him in strikes of excellent precision. Naruto quickly paddled backwards, drawing his tanto in the process and started to parry the strikes. On seeing that his strikes were being either parried or blocked, Kimimaru increased his speed and started to mix surprised alterations in his attacking pattern.

This seemed to do the trick as some of the strikes started to come quite close to hitting Naruto. Just as Kimimaru delivered a strike, Naruto's tanto and the free hand blocked both his strikes. However, before he could shake off the strikes, a bone extended from Kimimaru's elbow and nearly pierced him in the left shoulder. Getting aware of his sudden situation of desperation, Naruto slammed a wind enhanced fist on the bone swords of his opponent, shattering them in the process.

However, before he could retaliate the elbow bone's sudden attack, Kabuto appeared behind him, the silver haired medic kicked him in the back, sending Naruto flying in a sidewall. Twisting himself in mid air, Naruto managed to land feet first on the wall before rebounding on the medic. Using Kimimaru, who was facing the other side, as a balance point, Naruto delivered a lightening charged kick to Kabuto's ribs before following up with another one on his right thigh.

With his thigh femur now shattered, Kabuto fell flat on his ass on the floor as his ribs started to puncture his left lung. Expecting his special healing ability to kick in, he was surprised to find that Naruto had used some lightening chakra in his strikes, electrocuting his chakra pathways in that area and numbing his muscles. It meant he would not be getting the edge of his healing in this fight. Grinding his teeth in Pain, he struggled to stand up.

On the other side of the arena, Naruto was being pushed back by Kimimaru. Kimimaru now remembered him, he recognized Naruto as one of the shinobis sent by Konoha to retrieve Sasuke. This realization only helped in angering him more as now he knew that this shinobi in front of him shared a bond with the traitorous Uchiha. Giving a battle cry, he reached behind his neck before slowly pulling out his own spine. Whipping it like a leash, he straightened it to form a long sword of pointy protrusions.

Naruto cocked an eye brow at that and readjusted his grip on his tanto, readying himself for the onslaught that was sure to come. And it came. Kimimaru suddenly appeared on Naruto's left, his sword in mid swing aimed at the Akatsuki's torso. Naruto displayed excellent agility as he leaned backwards to let the swing pass over his face. Jumping up at the same time, Naruto delivered a knee to the nose of his assailant, breaking it without an effort. Kimimaru staggered backwards as his nose started to bleed profusely.

Without wasting the interval it provided, Naruto sprang into action as he launched himself head first in the abdomen of Kimimaru. The said shinobi was forced to cough up some blood as Naruto crashed head first in his body. The blonds head collided with his chest while his shoulder did the same with his stomach. Forcing down the bile that was about to come out of his mouth, Kimimaru leaped back to create some distance. Naruto would have followed him if his path wasn't blocked by a snake.

The snake hissed as his fangs dripped with deadly poison. Naruto stared at the snake for a while before fixing Orochimaru with a stare. Orochimaru, who was still sitting on his throne behind the snake, smirked and stood up. His eyes shining yellow in color as he slowly started to walk down the altar. His eye never ending contact with Naruto's as he came down to stand beside the snake blocking the Akatsuki's path.

"Did you really thought that you, a single Akatsuki could just walk in my lair and demand a ring that clearly belongs to me?" asked Orochimaru as he raised his hand to stroke the back of the snake on his side.

"That ring belongs to the leader of the Akatsuki, not you," answered Naruto in a tone that would have made Uchiha Madara sound emotional.

Orochimaru gave him a quizzical look before continuing,

"That means the leader of the Akatsuki must come here to claim what is supposedly his, isn't that right Naruto Kun?" he asked as he gazed inside the eyes of his opponent.

'No hesitation, no regret of killing the sound four and certainly no fear' thought Orochimaru as he studied Naruto's eyes and posture.

'Well trained, stance of that of a sword master, he is not the brat I remember.'

"Leader Sama has many important businesses in need of his attention, you on the other hand are not one of them," came the smart-ass reply from the same stoic Naruto.

Orochimaru's smirk slipped right off of his face at this comment, he frowned as his tries of forcing Naruto in a desperate position were nullified by the said blonde. Until now, he was trying to avoid fighting the Jinchuriki due to his condition but now he just wanted to teach him a lesson. He shouldn't have messed with the strongest Sannin like that. Finally deciding to act, Orochimaru dashed forwards at Naruto in order to surprise him with a straight forward attack.

Unfortunately this Naruto wasn't the old one, this one was a shinobi trained to break down each and every defense as well as attack formation or strategy. As Orochimaru came in his fighting region, Naruto suddenly took out a kunai out of his sleeves and leaped towards the Sannin to meet him in mid air. Both the fighters were locked in a battle of Kunais and shurikens for a shot while before Orochimaru decided to switch to ninjutsu.

A mistake.

" **Kage no Hebi( snakes of shadows)"** exclaimed Orochimaru as he slammed his hands together. Immediately Naruto leaped back in order to dodge the sudden snake like shadow creatures emerging from the floor.

" **Suiton: Suigadan ( Water release: Water fang bullet)"** whispered Naruto as he made hand seals with one hand while cutting down the snakes with the kunai. He quickly spat about a dozen churning water bullets in Orochimaru's direction.

On sensing the danger Orochimaru was forced to end his jutsu and dodge the attack by jumping to the side. Naruto was about to continue his assault but Kimimaru appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

'If you want to attack Orochimaru sama then you'll have to defeat me first!" he shouted as his body started to tremble.

One by one his ribs started to extend and all the bones in his body started to thicken. He started to scream in pain as he exerted his body to its limits. As his transformation finished he emerged from the dust as a body creature of sorts. All over his body, spiky bones were protruding in all directions as he panted a little before looking eyes with Naruto. Naruto's eyes showed nothing at all, all Kimimaru could see was his own reflection in them nothing else. Growling in a throaty voice, he dashed toward Naruto in blind rage.

Naruto stared at his opponent as he examined his transformation. His eyes caught a weakness of this boy's bloodline and he was going to exploit it while killing him. He started to exchange blows with the transformed shinobi as his eyes remained focused on his opponent's face, never leaving it even for a split second. He was waiting for an opening but was yet to get one from the bone pulse user.

When he was unable to get an opening after a long period of fighting, he decided to use another way. After setting up the requirements, he suddenly dashed forwards and rammed a shoulder in his opponent, wrapping his hands around the surprised Kimimaru, he stared at the bone user before narrowing his eyes.

"Your nose is till bleeding from that kick I gave you. Its seems that your kekei genkai allows you to pull out your bones and regenerated them almost instantly. I have a question, does it works for your skull the same way?" asked Naruto as another Naruto appeared right behind Kimimaru, a Raiton charged katana in his hands posed to pierce Kimimaru's skull in a fraction of a second.

Kimimaru sensed the presence behind him and turned his head to gaze at the identical Naruto behind him.

"Gasp!"

 **SCHLIKKKK!**

The katana went straight through his temple and came out of his neck behind the ear. His eyes immediately glazed over as the bony protrusions on his body started to fall off of his body. At the same time, the Naruto in front of Kimimaru exploded in a cloud of smoke, signifying its identity as a kage bunshin. Kimimaru's body landed on the floor with a cold dull thud. The once great clan now disappearing in the history forever.

Pulling out his katana from the skull of Kimimaru, he stopped sending the chakra in his weapon, which resulted in the katana transforming back in its tanto form. Giving it a sharp swing downwards, Naruto got rid of the blood on its blade before depositing it back in its hidden place in his sleeves. The tanto disappeared in the mid night dark Akatsuki cloak. Turning to look at the coughing Orochimaru, Naruto started to walk towards the Sannin, Kunai in hand.

Orochimaru saw Naruto approaching and stood up from his crouching position. Stretching out his jaw, a handle came out of his throat that he grasped in his hand before pulling it out swiftly. The famous Kusanagi appeared in its full glory as the Sannin gave it a few test swing to remember the balance of his greatest weapon. Satisfied with the weapon, he pointed it at the approaching Akatsuki before smirking in his direction.

"It wasn't a good idea to just barge into my hideout and kill my most loyal minions Naruto Kun. I was thinking of using that body of your for myself in future but now I have changed my mind. I will kill you right here right now and your body will become a nice researching subject in my lab," announced Orochimaru as made his move by sending a gust of laser sharp wind directly at Naruto.

Naruto quickly dodged the attack by sidestepping the wind blade. He made a few hand seals before whispering.

 **Suiton: Bakusui Shoha (Water release: Exploding Water Shockwave)**

A large size of water wave appeared out of thin air and went straight towards a wide-eyed Orochimaru who quickly disappeared under the ground to save himself from the devastating jutsu. Once the water had calmed down enough, Orochimaru appeared above the water surface only to find himself in a tight situation. All around him, about a dozen Narutos stood with their own tanto's drawn, vibrating from the highly dense futon chakra flowing through them.

Orochimaru mentally berated himself for underestimating Naruto, even after seeing his abilities in his fight against Kimimaru and Kabuto. He should have known better after Naruto revealed himself as a member of his former organization, Akatsuki. The standards of Akatsuki were quite high and if Naruto was given an important mission like the retrieval of his ring then he more than fulfilled the requirements of Akatsuki. He was an S class shinobi, a feat even the famed Hatake Kakashi had yet to achieve.

His pause of rethinking his actions was yet another mistake, as the clones did not stand idly all this time. As soon as he realized his mistake a volley of fireballs were racing towards him from all directions. Cursing, he tried to dodge them to the best of his capability, yet at the very least three fireballs made direct contact with his body. His screams of agony were mixed with the sound of water waves under their feet extinguishing the fireballs.

Naruto dismissed his clones as he stood on water waves, an emotionless expression present on his face as he scanned his surroundings for any signs of the snake Sannin. When he failed to do so, he activated his sharingan, this time he saw the chakra signature swimming towards him under the water. Tightening his grip on the hilt of his tanto, Naruto charged it with Raiton chakra before leaping upwards with the help of chakra. He reached the still intact ceiling of the chamber and used chakra to stuck himself feet first to the ceiling.

Pin pointing the location of Orochimaru under the water, Naruto overloaded his tanto with the Raiton chakra before throwing it in the Sannin's direction. The tanto tore through the air at lightening fast speed before coming in contact with the water. It didn't stop there though and continued on its path until it was buried in the water covered floor. The chakra loaded in the tanto burst out and a current of electricity ran throughout the water, electrocuting Orochimaru under the water.

Orochimaru came out of the water and crashed on a collapsed boulder. Coughing out water and blood while his burnt body hissed as steam came out of his third degree burns. He turned his head to curse the one responsible for his condition only to lock eyes with the one thing he wanted the most, a fully matured Sharingan. Gasping a little in both surprise as well as lack of breath, Orochimaru stared in those orbs of power with pure astonishment.

'This isn't a genjutsu, he really have the sharingan the question is how?' thought Orochimaru but instead of brainstorming the possible reasons he decided to first get those eyes and then find out about their source.

Quickly shredding his burnt skin, Orochimaru took his snake form intending to intimate Naruto with his appearance just as he had done with Sasuke. Orochimaru soon realize that the boy, no man in front of him was no Sasuke. Naruto didn't even baited an eye lash on his sudden transformation and just stared towards him like nothing new had happened. Orochimaru made his way towards Naruto, using chakra to snake his way on the walls of the hideout.

"Orochimaru, it seems you have gone too far in your conquest for immortality, let me help your soul get some much needed rest. In the name of master Madara sama, I will now pass his judgment on you for your crimes," stated Naruto as he raised his left hand.

Intently a blue spiraling ball of pure chakra appeared in his hand before he started pumping the Kyuubi's Youkai in it. The ball started to turn red in color with blue out line as it started to vibrate with the overloaded energy. Orochimaru stopped in his tracks as he started at the energy ball in fear.

'If that made contact with me than it's safe to say even Manda's skin will not be able save me' thought the snake transformed Orochimaru as he shifted his gaze towards the price of this risk, Naruto's sharingan.

Suddenly the rasengan look alike technique in Naruto's hand vanished in thin air Naruto stared at his left hand in confusion. Orochimaru smirked as he dashed forward and captured the distracted Akatsuki. Without any further ado, he quickly started the soul transfer technique as he felt himself gaining the control of Naruto's body as the boy's soul was being forced out of his own body.

After the ritual/technique was complete, Orochimaru opened his eyes and stared at his surroundings. The destruction of his hideout was a cheap price to pay in exchange of Sharingan he thought as he stared at his hands. They were still the tanned hands of Naruto and he could still feel the Akatsuki cloak over himself. It seems the soul transfer was a success. He smirked as he turned around to sit walk towards his throne to occupy it.

He froze in his steps as he found the Akatsuki member sitting cross-legged on his throne, a bored look on his face as his sharingan shone in the mild darkness of the hideout. How was it possible? He had killed the brat with his own technique. There was no way in hell he could have survived that and yet here he was, sitting in his own throne without a care in the world, looking bored.

"What? How… how are you alive? I killed you myself?" asked Orochimaru in confusion as he unconsciously stepped back to gain some distance from the Akatsuki.

Naruto only remained stoic as he stared at Orochimaru with his sharingan. Orochimaru felt as if his very soul was being judged by the sharingan shining in Naruto's eyes. Suddenly he started to deduce the possibilities. As soon as realization dawned on him, he first stared at Naruto, whose sharingan started to spin as if showing Naruto's amusement. Orochimaru quickly made his way to the water on the floor before looking in it. Instead of Naruto's reflection, he saw his snake form staring back at him.

"Genjutsu," muttered Orochimaru as suddenly cracks started to appear around him. He looked at his hands and found cracks on them too. Stumbling backwards in surprise, Orochimaru forgot to use his chakra to cancel out the genjutsu and paid for it dearly. As the world around him started to fall piece by piece, Orochimaru was slowly but surely pulled back out of his imaginary realm. The first thing to greet him was the same jutsu he had witnessed disappearing a while back. Naruto was standing in front of him, the water on the floor surprisingly gone.

"This is it, Orochimaru, this is your end. Now disappear," said Naruto as he pushed the jutsu in a now human Orochimaru's torso, instantly reducing it to ashes.

Orochimaru didn't have the time to even gasp in surprise before the jutsu started doing its devastating handiwork on his body. Smell of burning flesh hit Naruto's senses as Orochimaru's body started to turn into ash. Pushing his jutsu a little downwards, Naruto forced the ball in the ground before hurriedly reaching out and yanking the ring from Orochimaru's finger. Naruto wasn't planning to stay anywhere near the vicinity after activating the last stage of the Jutsu and instantly used shunshin to disappear from the area.

Slowly the power surging from the jutsu increased ten folds as a semi sphere of red energy expanded outwards from Orochimaru's last known location. It continued to expand until it was almost touching the high ceiling of the hideout, and then…

 **BOOOOMMM!**

At the same time, Sasuke appeared on the branch of a nearby tree. His eyes grew wide on seeing the power of this jutsu, thought the feel of this chakra was somewhat familiar to him but he paid it no heed. He almost fell from the branch when the jutsu exploded, sending rocks, boulders and other kind of debris in every direction at high speeds. Sasuke had to stab his sword in the tree's trunk in order to keep himself attached to the vegetation. Sasuke was thankful when the explosion died down but unfortunately, for him, it was just the calm before the real storm. Even before the smoke could settle down, the jutsu in the epic centre of the technique came back to life before exploding with three times the power of the last explosion.

 **BBOOOOMMMM! X 3**

This time Sasuke wasn't lucky and the tree under his feet was uprooted from the ground. The tree along with Sasuke, was sent flying backwards in the forest as many trees in the vicinity followed its example. Sasuke crashed about fifty meters in the forest before a branch fell on top of his head, knocking him out.

At the hideout, the dust cloud started to settle down as Naruto appeared in a flicker on the trunk of an uprooted tree, observing the area with his sharingan. He stared at the place where Orochimaru died with an expression of suspicion before shaking his head and glancing down at the ring on his palm. Staring at it for a while, he pocketed it and was about to move and finish of the last two surviving subordinates of Orochimaru before Zetsu emerged from the tree beside him.

" **Where were you going?"** asked Zetsu as he stared at Tobi's weapon with interest.

"To finish off the last two survivors," answered Naruto without looking at Zetsu.

" **You must leave the area now, Madara has summoned you and if you must know, Uchiha Sasuke is here and he shouldn't be allowed to see you at any cost. Return back to the hideout now,"** ordered Zetsu as he frowned at seeing the way Naruto refused to respect him all of a sudden.

Naruto gave it a little thought but he decided to follow the orders, after all, his master needed him for something. With that in mind, Naruto quickly made a quick set of hand seals before disappearing in crackle of lightening. After Naruto left, Zetsu turned towards the destroyed hideout of Kusagakure.

" **Now let's see who do we have here?"**

 **SUNAGAKURE**

 **Kazekage tower**

"Kazekage sama!" shouted the panting chunin as he barged in the office of his village's leader with an expression of desperation on his face.

Sabuko no Gaara raised his gaze from the paperwork covering his work table and met the desperate gaze of his subordinate. The Godaime Kazekage was many things, murderer, Jinchuriki, a kage, but an idiot he was not. He knew right away he was going out of his office for this one. Thus, without saying anything, he stood up and strapped on his sand gourd on his back. Turning around to face the chunin he addressed him.

"We can talk on our way out, follow me and report while you at it," ordered Gaara as he made his way to his office's door, shortly followed by a startled chunin.

Reaching the roof of his command tower, Gaara saw the hustle bustle of his people down in the streets of the great village of Suna. In the distance, he could also see the shinobi guards of village gates with suppressed fear. What was it this time that was forcing even trained shinobi act like that?

Turning to stare at the chunin standing behind him with his black highlighted eyes, Gaara gave him a look that meant 'TALK'.

"We have confirmed the reports of the desert guard, there are two individuals on the route to our village. The reports have confirmed that these two shinobi are garbed in black cloaks with red clouds meaning they are from the international organization Jiraiya sama informed all the villages about,-The Akatsuki."

Gaara turned to stare at the endless walls of his village. His red hair swayed with the evening wind of the desert as his tattoo of 'Love' was revealed to the desert.

'Only two shinobi? Why will they send only two shinobi? Are they underestimating the might of Sunagakure?' thought Gaara as he turned around once again.

"Are you positive there are only two hostiles?" he asked as two confirm something.

The chunin gave a curt nod.

"Yes Kazekage sama, that's what the reports say," he replied.

"I see," muttered Gaara as he raised his hand to rub his chin in thought.

"What are the orders, Kazekage sama?" asked the chunin as he began to fear that even his kage didn't know what to do.

"Oh yes, tell the guards to close the gates, all of them. Barricade every exit and entrance and send in the ANBU commander to my office. All the shinobi under the rank of chunin are to be stationed at the public areas to control the crowd. Also station some of the chunin, including yourself, to the shelters of the villagers. I'll deal with these two Akatsuki myself," ordered Gaara as he started to walk back to his office, the chunin took off as soon as Gaara's gaze left him.

'Finally, Akatsuki huh? We'll see what your intentions are, but at any cost I will protect my village with my very life' thought Gaara as he turned to go inside his office to come face to face with his ANBU commander and his brother.

"The Sato is in danger, we will need every shinobi available to get out of this situation without causalities," said Gaara as he entered his office followed by both the shinobi. The door was closed and not a single word was heard out of the office to tell you the tale about it.

Don't worry, your humble author is still standing outside the door to tell you everything in detail.

"Damn, now where is the key hole for peeping in this door?!" exclaimed NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799 

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

 **Those of you who are also reading 'The invincible eyes of the Sennin', that story will be updated in a week's time, so stay tight. My schedule for May was pretty shitty so I ended up getting my head churned by other things instead of my fanfics. Fear not, because I am still working on these two stories and I plan to complete both these fanfics of mine by the end of this year, just keep reading and reviewing. Peace!**

 **FACTS:**

 **In the whole cannon i.e., Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, Naruto didn't kill a single enemy.**

 **Kishimoto confessed that Namikaze Minato's heritage was planned to be traced back to Tobirama Senju but later he decided to avoid it.**

 **That's all, until next time!**

 **(Namikazeminato.7799)**


	6. Introductions and Plans

**POLL STATUS:**

 **Kurotsuchi: 5**

 **Mei:3**

 **Ino:2**

 **Temari:2**

 **Samui:2**

 **Anko:1**

 **Kurenai, Guren, Tenten and OC : zero**

 **NO PAIRING:1**

 **The poll will remain active for two more chapters but it will not be available on my profile 'cause there is another VERY important poll I am going to start, guess what, you all will LOVE it. Actually it's up on my profile, go and vote!**

 **I observed that guests were unable to vote in the poll and that's why anyone can VOTE via REVIEWS and PMs, I'll be keeping an eye.**

 **Sorry to all readers of 'The invincible eyes of the Sennin' actually I had the chapter ready for posting but somehow it was deleted from my PC and I have full suspicion on my Sis. Anyways I am rewriting it and will post it when it is complete.**

 **ADOPTED story from Narutoenthusiast, it's up in my Stories tab and will receive frequent updates for a week.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own anything bitch! Not Naruto and not my favorite character Pein, so fuck off!

 **CHAPTER 6**

"WHAT THE FUCK?! THAT GUY IS LIKE WHAT, SIXTEEN?! EVEN THAT RED EYED FREAK WAS OLDER THAN HIM WHEN HE FUCKED HIS OWN CLAN AND I CAN BET KAKUZU WAS KICKING IN HIS MOMMY'S STOMACH AT THE TENDER AGE OF FUCKING SIXTEEN!" were the words used by a very pissed off Hidan.

"I SAY THIS MASKED FREAK IS FUCKING NUTS TO THINK THIS BABY DICK COULD HANDLE US BIG BOYS, ISN'T THAT RIGHT KAKUZU?!" screamed Hidan at the top of his lungs as he glared daggers at the orange masked Akatsuki who claimed to be the legendary Uchiha clan head.

"Hidan, shut your mouth or I will sew it permanently," whispered Kakuzu as he stared ahead at the calm boy standing in the middle of the gathering hall of Pein's tower.

This boy was one of the two Madara was backing for. According to the Uchiha, this boy was powerful enough to take down Itachi at any point of time. The only thing in which he was lacking was the experience, not a problem there. No matter what they say, if Madara was bold enough to acknowledge the power of this young one, then Kakuzu was interested in seeing what this boy was capable of.

"On what terms do you want us to believe that this boy is an S-ranked shinobi? From what I can conger, he is still too young to have S-class power under his belt," asked the one standing in the middle of the gathered Akatsuki, Pein.

These last years have been tough for the not so new leader of Akatsuki. He was forced to endure the torture Itachi called sharingan training while at the same time, fighting two clones of the said Uchiha was nothing to scoff at. His taijutsu was now on par with Itachi, but he was no longer working on his taijutsu. His real focus was on Fuinjutsu because no matter what he said, at the end of the day, he was an Uzumaki and Fuinjutsu was like a drug to the Uzumakis.

"I have seen him fight Pein, he is walking killing machine. No matter what or who comes in his way, he destroys and creates his own path. May be that's why most of you don't know him, but I am sure once I reveal his name, Itachi will recognize him instantly," answered Madara in his own twisted way of manipulating the information.

"And what would that be?" asked the stoic Uchiha murderer, sharingan activated as he tried to get a read on the boy's emotions.

Nothing.

"Oh you know, I can assure you, he never worked with you, it's one of your ex ANBU senior who is familiar with him, someone named Hatake Kakashi," said Madara with mockery evident in his voice.

So he was trying to get a rise out of Itachi and from the way Itachi's eyes widened a bit, it was working.

"Hatake Kakashi has no business here, I don't have time to waste Madara. This is your last warning, get to the point already," warned Pein as he stared at Madara's mask with irritation in his voice.

"Of course, I don't intend to waste your time Pein, It's just that I like to have some fun with my younger clansman. Anyways, his name is Uchiha Obito, he was report KIA in the third shinobi world war when the Yellow flash rained havoc on the Iwa forces. Actually he is the former teammate of Sharingan no Kakashi and student of the late Yondaime Hokage."

This got the desired effect from the audience. Every eye in the hall turned to look at the figure of the boy- no, the man standing quietly in the centre of the floor. Kakuzu, Sasori and Itachi stared at the man in suspicion while others stared at him in amazement. Pein gave an emotionless look at the mention of the Yondaime while Konan gave him a worried look for a fraction of second before becoming stoic.

"He can't be Uchiha Obito, because Uchiha Obito was reported KIA seventeen years ago and at that time he was a Genin of Konohagakure. As a former Konoha shinobi, I know that he was at least thirteen years of age at the time of his supposed death," said Itachi before raising his right hand and pointing his index and middle fingers at the man in front of him.

"And he is not thirty years old," he finished without missing a beat.

"Care to explain that?" asked Deidara as he turned to cast a questioning glance at Madara.

He may have never liked Itachi in person but he knew that the Uchiha was on hell of a walking booth of information when it came to suspicious things, like this one.

"I found him on the verge of death, half of his body was crushed under a huge boulder and only with the help of Zetsu was I able to save his life. He had a strong will to live, maybe that's why I decided to help him. After saving him, I treated his wounds while Zetsu healed his broken body, as for what I did with him after that, I let him go," said Madara.

"That doesn't explain the presence of multiple seals I am seeing on his body via my sharingan. Those aren't your normal fuinjutsu techniques inscribed on his body, those are some of the most powerful ones I have ever seen in my career," said Itachi as his eyes narrowed towards the now two Uchihas in front of him.

"Those seals are there to keep his body together, they are the ones we used to fix his body back in a single piece, those and some other methods of course but we are leaving the point here. The question is, whether are we going to take him in our organization as one of us or are we stupid enough to let such an opportunity go?" asked Madara as his eyes travelled to each and every Akatsuki member's face before stopping on Pein's stoic posture.

"You still haven't provided me with enough evidence to prove his S ranked status. As such, I am in no obligation to accept him in Akatsuki," said Pein with his eyes closed, his senses spreading out to read the thoughts of each and every Akatsuki member.

"What if I say he is already one of us?" asked Madara in a playful tone, succeeding in only angering the rinnegan wielder.

"Don't test me Madara. I don't have the sense of humor to pardon such petty attempts of mockery from the likes of you. You may have time to waste seeing, as you are supposedly immortal, I on the other hand have this entire organization as well as the village of Ame to run. Thus, wastage of time may be a thrilling sport for idiots like you, but it's definitely not me," Whispered Pein as he opened his eyes to show the angered rinnegan in its full glory.

Madara was seething in anger now, how dare this lowly scum disrespect him, HIM, UCHIHA MADARA! He could still remember the night a few years ago, when this very same man was defeated by him. The look Nagato had on his face on that amusing night was etched in Madara's memory forever, after all, not anyone could claim to have defeated a rinnegan user in an one on one battle.

'He killed Orochimaru and retrieved the eleventh Akatsuki ring from that traitor. Now the ring belongs to him now, which makes him an existing member of Akatsuki whether you like it or not," answered Madara with clenched teeth.

At this, every member now looked at the black haired boy in renewed astonishment. It was true that some of them could go toe to toe with the snake sannin, Itachi, Kakuzu and most of all Pein, being the only ones to have defeated the mad scientist. To think this person was able to take out their ex comrade was a little more than surprising. Orochimaru was a slick bastard who was expert in surviving life-threatening forces of powerful techniques, even S class jutsus. After his stunt with Itachi, Pein had interfered to stop the sure to occur-battle otherwise; Konoha's number one traitor would have died by the hands of its number two.

"In that case I would like to see that said ring," came the voice of their leader as his attention focused on newly introduced Uchiha Obito.

On being addressed, 'Obito' or rather Naruto, who was now a raven head just like all the Uchihas were known to be, raised his head to reveal a pair of deadly sharingan with three tomoes spinning madly. Deidara frowned on this while Hidan flinched. Those were the second most dangerous eyes in the shinobi nations. Kisame couldn't help but grin at the prospect of having another Uchiha in the gang.

'It's gonna be fun!' thought Kisame while hefting Shamehada on his right shoulder, excitement bubbling from both the sword and the swordsman.

Raising his left hand, Naruto showed them the ring adorning his left index finger. The silver ring with black emblem on its top was glowing in the dim light of the hall as every other member recognized the ring as one of their lost one.

"I see, so you had all the preparations made to get him instated in Akatsuki, there is nothing we can do. Only two choices, either we accept him as one of us or…we kill him and retrieve back what belongs to us," stated Pein as Madara became alarmed.

What was wrong with this man, here he was, trying to get his most powerful weapon in the organization while also giving Pein the authority over the said weapon and he…he was proposing to kill the said weapon?. To top it off, every single one of these pawns of his were looking convinced in carrying out the later part of the statement.

"Just say the words, we'll take him out in bat of an eye," said Sasori as he stared at the Naruto.

"No, I don't think taking him out will gain us anything, we were in need of some powerful members and Madara has done just that. Uchiha Obito will join Akatsuki as its eleventh member, for now," said Pein with finality in his words while observing 'Obito'.

There was something fishy about this guy, his looks, his eyes, his hair, something was giving him a bad feeling about this underling of Madara. He knew Madara was planning something against him in near future, and this guy was going to be a part of that plan, the question was, when and how.

"Now that we have discussed the matter regarding this shinobi's future, what can you tell us about the woman standing behind him?" asked Pein as Konan nudged him from behind, trying to gain his attention.

Ignoring the female behind him, Pein kept focusing on the matters at hand, he will handle Konan later, right now this moment required his full attention. He could feel irritation and the confusion developing in Konan behind him, the frown that appeared on her features was also no secret to him.

"She was a prisoner of Orochimaru for a while, she was supposed to be his next vessel before Orochimaru decided to shift his attention to Uchiha Sasuke. Before she was quite devoted to him but after he broke his promise to make her his vessel, that devotion evolved in hate and contempt. After watching Orochimaru's demise at the hands of Obito, she decided to join him. However he was in my contact for years before that and it was just a coincidence that she was at the same hideout at the time of Obito's mission," Said Madara, now a little relieved after getting Naruto in the organization.

"What is her ranking, don't tell me she is an S ranker too otherwise I will be forced to think lowly of us all," spoke Deidara as he stared at Madara with a stressed face, brows furrowed.

"She is an A ranked Kunoichi. Names Guren by the way. Ex Kiri resident, the bloodline purge did a lot of damage in that village and in that disturbance, she was missed by the forces of Yondaime Mizukage. Later Orochimaru found her and on seeing her talent and Kekei Genkai, he decided to keep her as back up and bodyguard," informed Madara without stopping to let it sink in.

"What type of Kekei Genkai are we talking about here?" asked Kakuzu as he decided to get some information on the female, who knew, she might die on her next mission and he was asked to sell her body for funds.

"Shoton in other words, Crystal release. Her crystals are as hard as diamond when fused with enough chakra. Even Orochimaru was unable to take them out without using the Kusanagi," answered Madara, trying to gain some weight in the proposal.

"Speaking of the Kusanagi, where is it," asked Kisame as he started to get giddy for the thought of having another legendary sword with him.

"It was crushed in the debris of the collapsing hideout after I used some of my techniques," this time it was 'Obito' who answered.

"Strange, I thought if it could cut through anything then it would have been strong enough to handle few stones," said Konan, joining the discussion for the first time.

"WHO ASKED YOU TO SPEAK BITCH?!" exclaimed Hidan after a long pause on his part.

"HIDAN, I would advise you to think before you speak because immortal or not, even that Jashin of your won't be able to save you from this GOD!" came the thundering voice of Pein as his fist shook with barely controlled anger at the Jashinist.

Hidan did the only thing he thought right, he clamped his mouth shut while dipping his head a little in front of his leader. He knew Pein could carry out his threat and that won't end pretty for him. Turning to stare at the other members, Pein gave them a fair share of his killing intent before speaking in a commanding tone.

"These two will form the sixth team of Akatsuki from now on. Guren will be receiving a new ring after its forged. This meeting is over."

"Zetsu, how did it go, I assume you found what you were looking for?" asked Madara as he sat in his chamber in Pein's tower.

"I did. It seems Pein has started getting practicing the ancient art of Fuinjutsu as well. I found multiple scrolls and books on the topics related to Fuinjutsu, though all of them were about the basics of sealing so I think it's safe to assume that Pein is using Fuinjutsu to just pass sometime while also learning a few things," answered Zetsu as he grinned like the idiot he was.

"Still we can't ignore this little fact; it can cause trouble in the future. To top it off we still don't know what happened to Yagura, it's like one day I was controlling him to command the Kiri forces and next nothing, he just vanished from the face of the earth," ranted Madara in a confused tone while Zetsu just stared around the room in his own mind.

"I must get a hold of 'Obito', he is not someone to stay calm for long, and he will need further instructions in a while anyway. Zetsu can you deliver the next set of instructions to him?" asked Madara while raising hiss head from his palm to look at his most loyal subordinate.

"As you wish, Tobi," Zetsu grinned.

 **KONOHAGAKURE**

 **HOKAGE TOWER**

Tsunade and Jiraiya sat in the office of Konoha's Hokage with grim looks plastered on their faces. Tension was saturating the air as the atmosphere of the office was dull and wasteful. In front of them stood a squad of ANBU black ops, all in different types of masks but still conveying their tiredness through their slouched postures. The leader of the squad, an ANBU in a Boar mask walked forward and kneeled in front of his village leader.

"Hokage sama, ANBU squad 7 reporting from the reckon mission to Kusagakure," said the ANBU with his head bowed.

"At ease captain, now if you'll please debrief both me and Jiraiya on the details of your findings," stated Tsunade as the ANBU answered with a 'Hai'.

"As ordered, squad 7 was deployed a week ago in order to validate the rumor of Orochimaru's supposed demise. We travelled at moderate pace so as to conserve stamina as well as chakra in case of the Intel being a trap. We arrived in the village of Kusa after travelling for two days. On the day of our arrival, we decided to henge into civilians to find out the inner information regarding the whereabouts of Orochimaru's hideout.

 **FLASHBACK BEGINS**

 _ANBU squad 7 stood in front of the Godaime Hokage as the said leader recited the details of their next mission._

"… _.That's why Jiraiya returned to inform Konoha that we may have someone stronger than Orochimaru on the loose out in the elemental nations. Your mission is an of the record mission, that's why I am assigning it to you instead of the ANBU commander. Your mission objective is to run a reckon mission in Kusagakure in order to find out whether this Intel is true or not. If its true then your secondary objective is to gather evidences regarding the identity and whereabouts of this new face in the game," finished Tsunade as she crossed her fingers in front of her nose._

" _Understood, Hokage sama!" said the ANBU captain as he gave a quick bow before sunshining out of the office, followed by his team closely._

 _Just as the team of ANBU left the chamber, Jiraiya emerged from the shadows of a corner, a look of seriousness on his face as his eyes showed confusion and restlessness._

" _What do you think hime, what will the ANBU find there?" he asked as he took a seat in front of his teammate, bring a hand to rest his face in the palm._

" _I don't know Jiraya, remember it was you who brought us this Intel thus as far as I know it's true that Orochimaru has perished by the hands of Uchiha Sasuke. Even though it's good for Konoha that Orochimaru is no longer a factor, but I can help but consider that Uchiha more of a threat now," she said as her palms rose to her eyes in order to stop the tears from falling from them in front of her remaining teammate._

" _Tsu-hime, Naruto chose to go after the Uchiha, there was nothing you could have done because if I knew him correctly, which I think I did, then it was impossible to change his mind. He was after all Kushina's son, he was a living carbon copy of Minato but his personality was that of a true Uzumaki just like Kushina," said Jiraiya as he stood up from his seat and walked around the table to comfort the love of his life._

" _May be you are right…" whispered Tsunade, wiping a few betraying tears from her eyes._

 _ **TWO DAYS LATER**_

 _ **KUSAGAKURE**_

 _The ANBU were walking among the civilians, henged to look like traders, their objective, to find the location of Orochimaru's hideout. Walking for a while they spotted a bar in the corner of the street, recognizing the opportunity the bar could provide, they entered the establishment._

 _The bar was full of drunks and thugs as most of them drowned themselves in the early afternoon alcohol. Walking forwards, all five of the ANBU took seats on a vacant table in a dark corner, senses on high alert so as to catch every information that may come flying through the mouths of these local drunks. Suddenly one of the ANBU heard a quite whisper coming from the bar stand in the corner._

" _You know, I think who ever did it must have done us a favor after all. Now all these thugs have no employer and with time they may even leave us in peace," whispered a man who was still somewhat sober compared to his companion._

" _What are you saying, keep your voice down you idiot! Do you want those thugs to pay you a visit in the middle of the night? Orochimaru sama wasn't just an employer for them, he was their shield from the great five shinobi nations. Now that he is gone, I am sure there is disturbance among them due to the fear of the great Satos (hidden Villages) most of all Konoha won't sit ideal after Orochimaru sama's murder," whispered another drunk as he tapped his bottle on the table again and again, trying to hide his statement in the noise._

 _Using the hand signs, two of the three ANBU stood up and made their way over to the two drunks. The drinking mason suddenly found him flanked by two unknown men._

" _What can you tell us about Orochimaru's murder?" asked one of them while staring directly in his eyes._

" _Why should I tell you anything, go die somewhere else…" frowned the mason as he returned back to his bottle, only to find it missing from his hands._

 _Turning to his companion he snarled and grabbed his collar roughly before yanking him closer to his face,_

" _How many times have I told your Kubo, stop stealing my booze you pisshead!" screamed the mason as he barked in his friends face._

 _Suddenly, one of the two men standing behind him yanked him away from his friend and threw him on his table, the mason collapsed on his table while groaning in pain as his head was slammed in the table for good measures._

" _Tell us where we'll find Orochimaru's hideout?" asked the man in a dangerous tone as he released a bit of killing intent focused on the mason._

 _The mason started to shake from the sudden assault of killing intent and slowly became sober. Turning his head a little to look in the eye of his assailant, he saw his own death in those deadly eyes. He was sure he had pissed himself as he tried to speak only to squeak a single word._

" _S-Shinobi!" and with that he pushed back the man holding him down._

 _As soon as he was free of the hold of the shinobi, he broke into a run towards the door of the bar, sadly he never saw his own missing bottle flying towards his head from behind. The bottle made contact and made sure that the mason will never utter a single word about what he saw or heard in the bar today. The disturbance coming from the streets and drunks inside making it impossible for someone to detect the death of a man._

 _Turning to the remaining scared off drunk, the man stared at him without an emotion in his eyes. The drunk found the killing intent shifting on to him as he was subjected to the same visuals as his not so late friend._

" _Where can we find Orochimaru's hideout?" repeated the man as he placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it painfully._

" _I-I don't know! Please, those thugs over there will surely tell you where it is, Please, don't kill me. I have a wife and kid, Please!" pleaded the drunk as he started to cry from the fear of dying._

 _The ANBU lifted his hand from the drunk's shoulder and turned towards the group of thugs in the corner, walking away towards them. The drunk sighed in relief on being spared, he was too engrossed in heaving a sigh that he did saw the flash of a Kunai in the remaining man's hand before it made a gaping hole in his throat. The drunk died due to drowning in his own blood, thinking why he made the mistake of coming to the bar today of all the days._

 _Reaching the table of thugs, the ANBU leader stood strong in front of the supposed leader while maintaining the eye contact with the thug. All the thugs turned their attention from the the card game to the newest arrival among them._

" _What do you want Punk?! Do you wanna get beat up?!" sneered a thug as he raised his club from his chair side, swaying it in the air to show it to the stranger._

 _The man just looked at the leader of the thugs and spoke "Where is Orochimaru's hideout?"_

 _The thugs suddenly stiffened as they stared at one another, unsure of what to answer. The leader of group just stood up and pointed at him smirked evily._

" _Orochimaru's dead, killed him with my own two hands, but now we all are unemployed. As the guy's dead there is now use of knowing the whereabouts of his hideout right? Everyone what do you say, should we cut this guy and sell his organs for some extra money, eh?" everyone laughed at this and leader barked in laughter as he thought what would be going through the head of this stranger._

 _Imagine his surprise when the stranger smirked at him and raised his right hand while pointing a finger towards him._

" _I'd like to see you try, either way, you are coming with me," said the stranger as he focused his attention on the leader while signaling his comrades for the next set of actions._

 _The thugs snarled at the mockery of the stranger as he shamelessly threatened their leader. Grabbing clubs rod and chains along with all sorts of weapons from their sides, they stood from their seats to teach this punk a lesson to not to mess with his betters in future._

" _We'll see who is coming with whom bastard!" exclaimed the leader as he and his lackeys jumped forwards to attack the stranger._

 _Imagine their surprise when smoke erupted in front of the stranger, completely obscuring their view of the stranger. Everyone started to cough as the smoke slowly stated to decapitate, reveal the stranger with four Konoha ANBU black ops officers flanking him, swords and Tantos along with Kodaichis drawn at ready to defend their leader should the need arise. Suddenly the stranger dropped his henge, revealing himself as another Konoha ANBU, his dark grey shade of guards signifying his status as a captain._

" _ANBU!"_

" _Ninjas!"_

" _Shinobi!"_

 _Were some of the shouts heard in the bar but the most prominent of them was…_

" _KONOHA!"_

 _The thugs started to sweat as they had just signed their death warrants by messing with not just any ninja but a Konoha's ANBU captain. Konoha's ANBU black ops where worldwide known for their superiority in battle tactics and teamwork. They performed every task with deadly precision with as less witnesses as possible, this was the only military body which had caused trouble for the Iwa-Kumo-Kiri joint forces in the third shinobi world war. One could say, this was the battalion of Konoha's military which recorded the most kills in the last two wars._

 _It was after the humiliating defeat by the hands of Konoha's black ops, Iwa and Kumo had decided to form their own ANBU divisions, while Kiri decided to form the Kiri no Shinobigatana. Such was the power and dear of this division of Konoha._

" _Bear, Make sure no one leaves this place with their head on their shoulders, I want absolutely zero witnesses," ordered Boar as the ANBU behind him nodded and disappeared in a flicker._

 _Turning to look at the leader of the thugs through his mask, Boar continued,_

" _Speak, where is the hideout of Orochimaru?" he asked in a deadly tone which left no room for argument._

" _I-It's in the eastern part of t-the f-forest, y-you will easily s-spot it 'cause it's still s-smoking," stuttered the thug as he dropped his club while watching the massacre happening behind the ANBU's back._

 _Bear was carrying out the order given to him by his captain as he decapitated head after head. Suddenly the thugs started to run for their lives and the remaining ANBU black ops joined the bloody dance._

 _Walking out of the now silent bar, the four civilians waited for their last member as the leader of the group walked out of the bar, not before turning the sign board on the gate to 'Closed' side._

" _We have our information, now we have to find the smoke in the eastern part of the forest, if you see it, flare your chakra and the rest of the team will join you in a moment's notice, understood?" spoke the leader as he glanced from each and every last member of his group. Getting the nod of understanding from each of them, he gave a nod._

" _Scatter!"was the command that escaped his mouth as the five civilians disappeared, leaving the bleeding head of the leader of thugs on the bar counter._

 _ **AFTER SOME TIME**_

 _ **EASTERN FOREST OF KUSA**_

 _The ANBU team landed without a noise as they scanned the area for any hostile factors._

" _Clear, no hostile in the radius of one mile," spoke Raven as he stopped using his sensory abilities._

" _Good, our objective is to find out what happened here, in detail, Go," ordered Boar as he, along with Bear, Raven, stag and their latest member Falcon made a break for it._

 _Unknown to them, two sets of eyes were watching their every movement with calculative gaze._

" _ **This would be the easiest part of the plan,"**_ _spoke a voice while another voice answered it._

" _That I am sure of."_

 _Boar landed on the center of a big piece of debris as he investigated the strange markings on the whole structure. There were multiple lines ranging from lines as thin as a hair to lines as thick as a tree's trunk. All these lines were making a web like pattern, emerging from one place and ending at completely another. From what Boar could see, these lines were part of a sealing array, a much complex one at that._

 _Bending down, he decided to note the pattern of the seals to consult with Jiraiya. Noting some dust and ash on a large part of the seal, he used his gloved hand to try and wipe it off. Just as he tried to touch it and wipe it clean, the seal activated and the ink of the line started sticking to his glove. Getting high on alert, Boar immediately leaped back in order to avoid any traps that may have been triggered accidently._

 _Soon the glow of the seal died down at nothing of significance occurred, forcing Boar to theorize that either the seal was a detection seal or it was now a faulty one due to the damage it had received. Gathering up the courage, he decided to continue inspecting the site._

 _Falcon swiftly landed on the ledge of a underground entrance that may have served as one of the many emergency escape routes for the hideout. It was on the further edge of the hideout and was covered with bushes and vegetation. Deciding to see whether anything of importance was left unscathered in the hideout, he jumped inside the hole while drawing out his tanto for use in case of any trap or attack. He saw a light glow coming from the edge of a boulder which was collapsed on something similar to a pedestal. Walking forward, he reached near it and was about to touch it when heard a distant click behind him. He swiftly rolled to a side as dozens of shurikens and Kunais came flying at the place where he previously was. In the rush of the movement, he couldn't dodge the second shower of deadly projectile._

 _SHCULCH!_

 _THUD!_

 _ **After an Hour**_

 _Boar and other ANBU were back in front of the hideout as they prepared to leave after accomplishing the mission._

" _Wait, where is Falcon?" asked Boar as he watched his three remaining comrades look at each other with no clue as to where their last member was._

" _No man should be left behind, we gotta find him or Hokage Sama won't be happy with this," spoke Boar with a hint of desperation in his voice. There was something he had found out when he had entered the hideout from the collapsed roof and he was not too keen to find out what caused it._

 _Just as the shinobi were about to go in search of their lost comrade, the said comrade appeared on a nearby boulder, with blood flowing from his right arm and a pair of Kunai and shuriken sticking out of his back._

' _What happen to you?" asked Raven as he rushed forward to support the injured ANBU._

" _Accidently activated a trap, and in the process of dealing with it, a couple more got activated," whispered Falcon as Stag gave him first aid while also healing some major wounds to keep them from being infected._

" _Why didn't you get out of the trap's range in the first place, we all are trained in facing the traps, it doesn't mean we have to every time we find any," lectured Bear as he frowned under his mask._

" _It was necessary, for Konoha, because those traps were guarding this," said Falcon as he produced a sword from behind him._

" _The sword of Kusanagi(Grass cutter)!" spoke Raven in astonishment._

" _How did you get that?!" asked Bear, a little upset._

" _I just told you didn't I," replied Falcon as he flinched due to an injury Stag was treating._

" _Enough, Falcon, good work but don't get this reckless next time you see something of such value," spoke Boar as he signaled them to move out._

 _One by one, the ANBU left the clearing, on their way to their home. If they had stayed a little longer, they would have seen blood coming out from under a large boulder and the fear striking voice,_

" _ **Finally, the task is done. Soon, soon Konoha will burn and so will the other nations and then I will reveal myself! Ha ha ha ha!"**_

 **FLASHBACK ENDS**

"… and after travelling for twenty nine hours straight, we finally made it back to Konoha an hour ago," finished Boar as he hand Tsunade a written form of the report in the form of a scroll.

Accepting the scroll, Tsunade glanced at Falcon, who was looking at the captain's back with an emotionless gaze, not that she could see that due to the mask and all. The sword her now dead teammate once used, the Kusanagi, was strapped on his back safely. It would be wise to just let him keep the sword, as it will increase the power of the black ops significantly, while also increasing the respect of Konoha in the elemental nations.

"Alright, your mission is now officially announced as completed with success and you all will receive the A rank mission pay tomorrow. Now as for the sword that you confiscated from the site, it will stay with officer Falcon until the need arises to do otherwise. Bear, Rave and Stag, you three are dismissed, there is something I and Jiraiya would like to discuss with these two," said Tsunade as she crossed her fingers and waited for the named ANBU to depart.

Once the ANBU had disappeared in their respective sunshins, she turned towards the window of her office where Jiraiya appeared out of thin air.

"It's good to know that you could join us," said Tsunade scarcely as Jiraiya entered her office via the window.

Turning to look at Falcon, she addressed him,

"So, officer Falcon, it's nothing to scoff at that you have succeeded in getting a strong weapon for Konoha, as Jiraiya and your captain would agree with me, your record will be getting some plus points added to it and I hope to see you in command of your own team in near future, you may go now and make sure you pay the Konoha hospital a visit," said Tsunade as she gave him a nod of appreciation.

The ANBU bowed and disappeared in a seal less shunshin, leaving the three occupants alone in the office. After the departure of Falcon, Tsunade signaled her ANBU bodyguards to leave them alone and Jiraiya raised a soundproof barrier around the office for confidentiality.

"So Boar, or should I call you Yamato?" asked Tsunade as she stared at the captain in front of the sannins.

"Both of them are my code names Tsunade Sama, it doesn't matter, call me whatever you want," replied Yamato as he removed his Boar mask to reveal a fair face with a full face metal guard hatai ate, big round eyes and short hairs.

"So, I observed there was something you were trying to skip in your mission reporting, what was it if you don't mind me asking?" asked Tsunade as her eyes narrowed considerably on the mention of the skipped information.

"It's not like that Hokage Sama, it's just that I didn't want to disclose such an information in front my team, it could have effected some of them is all," spoke Yamato in an apologetic manner.

"I see, so now that they are not here then do you see fit to reveal the information to your Hokage?" asked Tsunade a little irritated with Yamato.

"Of course Tsunade Sama," said Yamato as he took out a scroll from his pocket and leaned forwards to hand it to Jiraiya.

"I found this seal on the largest boulder in the debris of the hideout, I have already written about my experience with the seal in the scroll, so if you could please decipher it, it will be a great help Jiraiya Sama," said Yamato as Jiraiya opened the scroll and started deciphering the seal at the very spot.

"Anything else?" asked Tsunade as she observed Jiraiya going through multiple seal designs in his head while glancing at the scroll again and again.

"Actually yes, when I investigated the area, I found the evidences of a dangerous battle. From the marks on the boulders, a lot of Futon, Raiton, Suiton and Katon jutsu's were fired around the area, no sign of any Doton was traceable while the power of Suiton and Katon Jutsus was definitely way above A rank as most of the boulders were broken by water and some were scorched badly," said Yamato as Tsunade started getting worried.

As far as Tsunade could remember, Orochimaru used Futon, Doton and Suiton while his natural affinity was that of Doton. Such powerful Katon jutsus were not his forte which only left, Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha's were natural Katon users and Sasuke was reported to have a good control of Raiton as well. So the reports were true, It really was Uchiha Sasuke who killed the snake Sannin.

"That's not all, after I finished inspecting the outside of the hideout, I entered the main chamber of the hideout through the collapsed debris, there what I saw was what has got my mind numb," said Yamato as Tsunade raised a delicate eyebrow at that.

There wasn't anything in her knowledge that could scare the ANBU captain, even Jiraiya stopped studying the seal in order to hear Yamato's experience of the hideout.

"What did you see?" asked Jiraiya in a serious tone.

"I saw corpses, and not just any corps they were three of the sound four, wanted for assistance in Sandaime Sama's murder as well as Uchiha Sasuke's betrayal of Konoha. I also found the corpse of the Kaguya clansman whom Genin Rock Lee and Kazekage Sama had to face in Uchiha Sasuke's retrieval mission," spoke Yamato, giving them the shocker.

"So Sasuke didn't just kill Orochimaru, but he also took out the Kaguya as well as what could be the sound four?" questioned Tsunade as she massaged her temples, the Council will be having a field day soon.

"There is nothing to be surprised about Tsunade hime, If Sasuke could take out Orochimaru, then those others were nothing but flies to him, he could have just easily taken them out," spoke Jiraiya as he focused n the last part of the seal to decipher it.

"Those corpses weren't rotten, they were half eaten Jiraiya Sama," suddenly spoke Yamato with his head bowed a little, ANBU or not, dead still deserved some respect, enemy or not.

"WHAT?!" barked Tsunade as she jumped out of here seat, on seeing the face Yamato had, she turned her own to look at Jiraiya, whose hands were shaking for unknown reasons. He raised his eyes to meet those honey orbs of Tsunade. A shaky nod was all he managed as memories of past assaulted him with full force.

"What is it Tsunade Sama, Jiraiya Sama?" asked Yamato in confusion, to have such an impact on the Sannins, this was not a normal occurance.

"In the second shinobi world war, we, the Sannins were deployed in Amegakure to provide support to the Konoha forces there, battling the Kumo and Iwa forces, we found out that those with the most chakra were being found dead in broad daylight, their corpse half eaten," spoke Tsunade as she collapsed in her seat, it seems this was work of the same entity. Jiraiya picked up from where Tsunade left.

"At first we thought this was some weird way of Kumo to deplete the moral of our forces, but soon we started finding the enemies in the condition. In the end, Salamander clan of Ame was blamed and that's why Ame's warlord Hanzo the salamander got involved in the war, we never succeeded in finding who or what was causing that," spoke Jiraiya as he finished deciphering the seal.

"If that entity have it's eyes on one Uchiha Sasuke, then killer of Orochimaru or not, he is as good as dead," said Tsunade with a sense of glee.

"Tsunade! This no time for celebration, last time there was a war going on, meaning plenty of food for that thing, AND it was in Amegakure. Now it's in Kusagakure, that is awfully close to Konoha," interrupted Jiraiya, pulling Tsunade out of her day dreaming about the ways this thing will kill Sasuke.

"Yes, any ways what about the seal?" asked Tsunade, now composed but still a little giddy.

Jiraiya's face never lost its seriousness as he turned to look at Yamato,

"If this is what I think it is, your squad best stay in the village walls, surrounded by comrades at all times," he said without skipping a heartbeat.

"What do you mean, what is so dangerous about that seal?" asked Tsunade as Yamato nodded with sweat covering his forehead.

"This seal is designed in a way to transfer all the information about any organism present in a radius of one mile of the seal back to the user. If this seal was placed there by this entity…it knows everything about you and your team. From your natural infinities to your chakra signature, from your looks to your smell, hell I can bet it knows exactly where you are standing in this room right now," answered Jiraiya in a worried tone.

Only one thing went through Yamato's head at that time.

'Fuck this, I am not leaving the company of these two!'

 **TWO WEEKS LATER**

 **OUTSKIRTS OF KIRIGAKURE**

 **BINGO BOOK ENTRY No 32**

 **Name:-** Uchiha Sasuke

 **Age:-** 16

 **Status:-** Rouge Konoha Nuke nin (ranked 2) (updated from 3)

 **Affiliations:-** Konoha (Uchiha clan)

 **Post:-** Genin

 **Afinities:-** Katon and Raiton

 **Rank:-** S-rank (updated from A)

 **Bounty:-** 10,000,000 Units(yen) issued by Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure

 **Info:-** Wanted for betrayal to teammates, murder of Orochimaru of the Sannins, assault on a fellow shinobi.

Wields Sharingan of stage three, taught by Sharingan no Kakashi and Orochimaru of the Sannin.

APPROACH WITH CAUTION!

 **ORDER:-** Kill on sight! By the authorities of Hi no Kuni

Sasuke smirked at the Bongo book entry in front of him, this was working out quite nicely for him. Konoha was in assumption that it was he who killed his former teacher in cold blood. Maybe now Itachi would see how strong he had become in the last four five years and seek him out to battle him. Speaking of Itachi, there was no word in the world about the older Uchiha. Sasuke had tried to get some information from some major bandits and thugs by using his sharingan, I looked like Itachi had disappeared from the face of the earth.

"How long before we reach this desert hideout, eh Sasuke?" whined a boy in purple sleeveless shirt as his light blue hair came in front of his eyes, forcing him to stop drinking from the water bottle.

"Patience Suigetsu, patience. We are going to need this guy for our future fights with S ranked ninjas. He will be our distraction, our power house and our back up," spoke Sasuke as he continued to walk at a brisk pace.

"If you ask me, I'd say that guy is a nutjob who just likes to go berserk and kill poor souls for no reason," muttered Suigetsu as he rolled his eyes in an overly fashioned manner.

"SHUT UP, SUIGETSU! Sasuke Kun please ignore this wastage of space and focus on our relationship," spoke a redhead girl in pink shirt and red skirt, adjusting her spectacles with one hand and hiding her blush with other.

"…"

"Hehehe!"

"DON'T LAUGH SUIGETSU! SEE, YOU HAVE ANGERED MY SASUKE KUN!" screamed Karin at the top of her lungs as she tried hard not to hit the cunning boy in the back.

"Shut up, both of you! I am trying to read something here," scolded Sasuke as he struggled to focus on the bingo book entry in his hand.

 **BINGO BOOK ENTRY No 27**

 **Name:-** Uchiha Itachi

 **Age:-** 21

 **Status:-** Rouge Konoha nuke nin (ranked 1) (updated from 2)

 **Affiliations:-** Konoha (Uchiha clan)

 **Post:-** ANBU black ops captain

 **Afinities:-** Katon, Doton and Suiton

 **Rank:-** S-rank

 **Bounty:-** 50,000,000 Units(yen) issued by Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure

 **Info:-** Wanted for betrayal to teammates, massacre of the Uchiha clan, assault on a fellow shinobi.

Wields Mangekyou Sharingan, taught by Sharingan no Kakashi, Shimura Danzo and Uchiha clan head Uchiha Fugaku.

(ONLY KAGE LEVEL OR ANBU CAPTAINS) APPROACH WITH CAUTION!

 **ORDER:-** Kill on sight! By the authorities of Hi no Kuni

Itachi was still one step ahead of him, he was a master in all the shinobi arts while also wielding the might of Mangekyou sharingan. Speaking of Mangekyou, he will have to start training his single Mangekyou eye or it will be useless in a battle. For that, he will need to return back to Konoha in order to reach the Naka shrine hidden in the Uchiha district because only the stone tablets of the Uchiha clan will reveal the reality about the Mangekyou.

'That will have to wait as I have to kill Itachi before my heroic return to that cursed village,' thought Sasuke as he decided to increase their speed, pushing the ground back with all his might, he rocketed forward at mind boggling speeds.

'And I must increase my training because if we ever faced _THAT_ guy, then not even Itachi will be able to save us.'

 **IWAGAKURE**

 **Tsuchikage tower**

"So you mean to say that Konoha has lost the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki?" asked an Advisor as he sat in the office of Tsuchikage's office, along with his two fellow advisors and the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki. The messenger kneeling in front of them nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, for the last four years, no has seen the Jinchuriki, not even his own Sensei. After the defection of Uchiha Sasuke, one of his teammates, the Jinchuriki was deployed to chase down the traitor. Unfortunately, the mission was declared a failure after the retrieval team sustained fatal wounds by the hands of 'Sound four'," spoke the messenger as he stood up.

"And the Jinchuriki?" asked another advisor with mild interest.

"He either perished on the retrieval attempt or became a nuke nin himself because even if Konoha tried to hide it, it was pretty clear that he never returned from that mission," spoke the messenger as he felt proud of himself for providing his village with such vital information.

"We can't just jump to conclusions. Who knows, maybe Jiraiya of the Sannin is training the boy himself. We got reports about that Jinchuriki becoming close to Jiraiya in the chunin exams and he also helped in retrieving Senju Tsunade for the position of the Godaime," suggested the last advisor as he looked back and forth between his kage and the fellow advisors.

"I thought that too, that's why I did a little digging and found that Jiraiya Sama is spending a lot of his time in Konoha which means he isn't training the Jinchuriki," answered the messenger with a smirk on his face.

"But what if…" started the same advisor.

"Enough Somato! It is decided, contact the Damiyo, call him to the village. I want him to increase our funds, we will need all the power we can get for the future," spoke the Tsuchikage as stood from his seat.

"You couldn't mean to say?!" whispered everyone at the same time.

The Tsuchikage grinned evilly, as he rubbed his hands together, walking to the window of his office; he looked out of it to see a large military going through discipline drill of marching and responding. Flags with the emblem of Iwagakure soared in the skies as village turned into a swamp of soldiers. From children of age eight to fully-fledged war veterans of age sixty, everyone was going through drills with one thing in common…the fire in their eyes, a fire resembling their hatred for their one enemy…Konoha.

"Yes, we are going to wage a war against Konoha and I will lead this village to –"

CRACK

"OOOOOH MY HIPS!"

 **AMEGAKURE**

 **Pein's Tower**

"I still think there is something off with that guy! There is no way he is who he says he is," said Pein as he sat in his chair, tapping his fingers on his desk, succeeding in irritating the other two occupants of the office.

TAP

TAP

TAP

TAP

TAP

"Will you stop that!" screamed Konan as she tried to massage her head with her slender fingertips.

Itachi gave her a grateful look before taking on a thinking pose, trying to pin point where he had seen someone similar to this new character. Sure, it must have been one of the Uchihas back in the old days, but it was highly impossible to have such similarities in clan relatives, one must be of the same family and a close blood relative to have facial feature similarity. Uchiha Obito was a orphan who lived with an old lady, he used to call her Grandma to get a sense of belonging, nothing else. Which means that he had no close blood relative in the clan.

Suddenly it clicked in Itachi's mind. If what he was thinking was true, then this guy looked like _HIM_ in every way past the hair. His hair style was that of wild hairs of Uchiha Madara, who knows it was an effect of being a protégé of the said Uchiha.

"Something happened?" asked Pein as he studied the emotional turmoil one Itachi's face.

Coming out of his deep thoughts, Itachi contemplated on whether to tell Naruto the real identity of this 'Uchiha Obito' character. On one hand it would prove to be a great help in the sure to come future battles within the organizations, on the other hand, if his assumption was proven wrong then it will cost them heavily.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what it could be that Madara is planning this time?" said Itachi with a stoic face.

Naruto wasn't just better at making one, he was also good at reading the Poker faces made by others as well. Maybe that's why Itachi decided to tell him only half truth and from the looks of it, it was working.

"Stop with this you too, your staring contests are always stupid. Now think how can we use this new development for our benefit, Madara is one tough bird to kill and he is planning something against us. We know that it's going to be big, we must prepare for the worst before it's too late," said Konan as she started to pace around the office while chewing on her fingernails.

"She is right, but we are at serious disadvantage here. Madara already had someone like Zetsu on his side and now these two new players are joining the game from his side. We are already out numbered, we must gain some trust worthy comrades from within the organization, shinobi like Kakuzu and Sasori," spoke Itachi while staring at Pein with narrowed eyes.

"Why do I think that there is something going inside that skull of yours?" muttered Itachi as he turned around to look at Konan, who shrugged.

"Don't look at me, he never tells me what stupidity he is going to commit, that's something both Nagato and Yahiko had in common and now he is the same," were the words she used to describe her feelings.

"Awe, Konan Chan, you know that hurt me, right. I know you love me the way I am, nee?" teased Pein in a pouted manner, eyes glittering with mischief.

"Shut it!" fumed Konan in anger.

"Anyways, I think I have a way to even out the odds, but for that to work I am going to need Zetsu," answered Pein truthfully.

"Don't tell me you already have it?" asked Itachi in amazement, leaning on the table.

"Have what?" asked Pein with a stupid expression on his face. They had decided to have him behave the same when in private to conserve the 'Naruto' personality. For the Organization, he was Ame's god Pein, for them he was the stupid blond Uzumaki.

"The Rinnegan!" spoke Itachi with wide eyes.

This received him two different types of reactions, firstly Konan suddenly fell to the floor while Pein answered with the smartest "EH?!"

"Itachi, you should know he doesn't even have a working brain, Rinnegan is like a talk of day dreaming for now," said Konan with an uncharacteristic grin on her face.

"Whatever you say, anyways, I will need Konan to restrain the bastard while you and I will do the handy work on his brain using our sharingan," revealed Pein with a serious expression.

"That's a dangerous gamble Naruto! We don't know if that thing is even human or not, if you failed your sharingan will be revealed to Zetsu and Madara. This is not a game, you are the last Pein Akatsuki will ever get, first Yahiko was killed by Hanzo and Danzo, then this Madara killed Nagato and now you are stupid enough to risk it all for what, even out the odds?!" said Konan with her eyes watering a little.

Itachi and Pein stood speechless, as the strongest Kunoichi of Ame became a quivering mess in front of them. Itachi turned his head and stared in Pein's eyes to see hurt in them, self-loathing was the dominate feeling in them as he felt hatred towards himself for making Konan cry.

"Okay so this is getting out of hand here, Konan, what if we used a clone of Zetsu, if we failed then we can always get rid of the clone. Zetsu clones don't pass on their experience to the original, that's why I have been using them to gain information on Madara," suggested Itachi as Konan looked at him with surprise on her face.

"Couldn't you tell that to us before, god I think all you Uchihas are damn idiots when it comes to mind usage, to hell with this, we are catching a Zetsu clone," she complained and ordered alike.

"Yes ma'am!" said a grinning Pein as he flashed his most eye blinding grin towards Itachi.

Itachi tried very hard to stop his eyebrow from twitching uncontrollably but that was the moment when Itachi Uchiha lost his first battle and to his own eyebrow no less, talk about shameful defeat.

 **An Hour Later**

"Pein Sama, did you summoned me?" asked Zetsu as he observed the three Akatsukis sitting in the leader's office. Pein had a stoic expression on his face while Konan and Itachi were talking among themselves about something related to the tensile strength a paper should have to capture someone.

"Ah, yes, I wanted to receive the weekly update of outer world from you," answered Pein with the same poker face, while Zetsu caught Itachi and Konan looking at him from the corner of their eyes and what looked like Konan checking him out.

"Of course Leader Sama!" he spoke with mild confusion in his tone as he tried to make a sense of this condition.

"Everything in Kiri is under control of the Godaime Mizukage, Terumi Mei. Suna is still recovering from the damage it's army sustained in the Konoha invasion four years ago. As of Kumo, Yondaime Raikage, Ae is still blissfully ignoring our activities in his country while his brother, Hachibi no Jinchuriki is getting stronger by each passing day,"

"And Iwa?" asked Pein with a raised eyebrow.

"Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki, is preparing his militia for an invasion of Hi no Kuni's territory," answered Zetsu honestly.

"Thank you Zetsu, you may go now," said Pein as Zetsu nodded and turned to leave, only to stop on hearing Pein's voice again.

"Before you go, if you don't mind me asking, are you the original Zetsu or a clone?" asked Pein a little too sweetly for his tastes. If he remembered his 'Leader' correctly then it should've been something like,

"Are you the thing or a copy, answer," and now you know how the real Pein communicated with Zetsu.

'Why is he asking whether I am a clone or not? He is not behaving as Pein, same goes with Itachi and Konan, what should I say? Should I tell him that I am the original or should I lie and introduce myself as a clone,' thought Zetsu with urgency in his thoughts because Pein was staring in his eyes, expecting an answer soon. Zetsu started feeling the absence of his black half desperately as he cursed himself for fighting with the black Zetsu, he could've saved his ass in this situation for sure.

'I should tell them that I am a clone, they won't waste chakra on killing a clone, right?' thought Zetsu before asnwering.

"I think I am a clone, I guess?" answered white Zetsu meekly with little confidence.

A cruel smile made its way on all three of the Akatsukis sitting at the table as in a quick burst of chakra, Zetsu found himself rooted to the floor and wall, being restrained by Konan's papers.

"W-What is this, Pein Sama, what are you all trying to do?" asked Zetsu as for the first time, the always joking white Zetsu almost wet his undersides in fear.

"Oh nothing, just a little formating and rewriting your loyalty properties," said Pein as he and Itachi came in front of his face and their eyes morphed into three tomoed sharingans.

'Of fuck… Black Zetsu, help me!...HELP ME BLACKYYYYY!'

 **To Be Continued**


	7. Kazekage retrieval

**To all my American readers, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. Yep this is a gift for you guys, though it's my sister's B'day as well so I did some hard work for her as well.**

 **Make sure to read the update of Nidaime no Sairin as well,**

 **DISCLAIMER:** Don't own Naruto, enough said T_T

Replies to the reviews

 **Roku:** The council doesn't the workings of the Jinchuriki, maybe that's why they treated Naruto the way they did. As for the reformation of the Bijuu, it depends on the power of the said tailed beast. In case of Kyuubi, according to Obito in the manga, it would take a decade for the revival of Kyuubi in such a scenario. As for the power of Kyuubi, it won't be as powerful as it was at the time of Naruto's birth because it's one half is still sealed inside Minato.

 **TheOldNick:** I hope you are having your lunch on time now, because it's about to be interrupted by 'The Return of Pein'. :)

 **XenoLucifer:** I'll respond in a proper manner:

The problem is, that particular review was for the lack of a better word a mess. I only pointed out grammar mistakes doesn't mean there wasn't anything else.

You can say that 'Obito' is like the shinobi being controlled by edo tensei, the only difference is that he can speak. He does have a conscious not a personality, meaning he does bleed.

I only wrote that after confirming it with the official team behind Naruto, had a friend working there for a while. By enemy I meant an ENEMY not an opponent, enemies like the Akatsuki or Orochimaru. Kakuzu was finished by Kakashi, Pein died on his own.

What Hidan said was something he spoke in one of his fits, nothing much.

(((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))

 **CHAPTER 7 : Kazekage Retrival**

"Deidara and Sasori will reach the decided hideout in half a day, what are you planning to do with the Kazekage, exactly?" asked Konan as she stood in Pein's quarters, said person's cloak in her hand as he zipped up the mesh armor on his torso before turning to look at her. He made eye contact with her before sighing.

"What do you think?" he asked as he walked to the side stand to retrieve his hetai ate.

"I don't know. You and Itachi never tell me what is going through those thick heads of yours', it's not as if I am a psychic or something you know. Still if I had to guess, I'd say you were planning to somehow fool Madara and keep the Kazekage in that 'Dungeon' of yours alongside the Yondaime Mizukage," said Konan with a hint of sarcasm.

Pein suddenly went still and stopped checking his chakra rods, she was making quite obvious points after all. He turned towards her and walked forward to stand in front of the blue haired beauty. Placing both his hands on her shoulders, he stared at her face for a second before awarding her with a small smile.

"You know, I think you may have that psychic factor somewhere in there, otherwise how could you tell that exact thing that Itachi suggested?" he asked while chuckling a bit, lightening the mood between the two.

"So you are going to do that huh?" asked Konan with a sense of knowingness.

"May be or may not," answered Pein as he brushed a stray strand of her hair and uncovered her left eye to him.

Both of them had started to feel an awkward pull towards each other after spending long hours of planning with each other, even though Pein was already attracted to Konan and was trying to deal with his own feelings. Konan on the other hand was going through a wired type of problems of her own. Suddenly she felt less irritated from Pein and was finding it difficult not to laugh at the pretty jokes he made on occasions. He may be a serious figure in the Akatsuki but he was nothing but a softy goofball when it came to serious talking, he never laughed on his own jokes though.

Suppressing her twitching eye, she scowled at the orange head before smirking.

"Oh I see, it happens, even I don't know when I'll have the time to make some ramen again," she said while cleaning her nails. She lifted her eyelids a little to see the gaping face of Pein as his eyes went wide with the horror of separation from his precious, precious ramen.

"You wouldn't dare…" he said with uncertainty.

"Oh I will, what's the word for it?... Yeah, 'try me'" she said with a serious face.

Pein continued to stare at her face for a while as he tried to think how such a beautiful angel could be so sadistic inwards.

"We'll see," he finally said before turning around and sliding his arms in his cloaks sleeves with her help.

He turned around and Konan tied his Ame headband on his forehead before messing his hair a bit, feeling a little giddy. Pein was someone who ignited fear in the hearts of his enemies but for his friends, he was the best friend one could possibly have in the shinobi world.

"Let's go, Itachi is waiting outside, something came up with the newest member," said Konan as she turned around and started to walk towards the door.

Pein stared at her retreating form for a couple of seconds. Oh what would he do to convey his feelings to someone as beautiful as this angel. Whenever she was within a meter range, his heart will start hammering his ribs while his breathing became labored on its own, his sentences will make no sense(Similar to the sentences of NAMIKAZEMINATO.7799) as his words will come out in a sputter. The effect she had on him was surreal. Finally, shaking his head a little at his own helplessness with her, he walked out of the chambers as well, not even bothering to zip up his cloak.

Outside, Konan was conversing with Itachi as the Uchiha was just shaking his head in dismissal manner. The look on Konan's face was that of a frustrated child as she bit her lower lip and assumed a thinking pose to come up with something new to present to the stoic Uchiha. Seeing Pein approach them from behind Konan, Itachi shifted his gaze from Konan to him.

"So, what are you two talking about? Anything I should know?" asked Pein as he stopped beside Konan in a casual stance.

"Nothing, it's just that I am not sure what were you planning when assigning that mission to the _forth._ I mean yeah his abilities are more suited for that objective but even Itachi would've performed that mission easily, so why rely on _HIM_?" asked Konan with a mix of irritation and confusion flashing on her features.

Pein only stared at her for a second before shifting his gaze to Itachi. The Uchiha just shrugged.

"She does have a point there, even though he is more suited for that kind of category of missions, I am more familiar with the mission profile."

"You know why I won't send you there, not yet."

"It's not upto you to decide where he goes you know" added Konan with her head held high.

Pein only raised an eyebrow at this.

"What is with you today Konan? You aren't acting like yourself today," asked Pein in a little suspicion filled voice.

"Um… I – I am fine nothing is wrong with me, yeah definitely nothing wrong," stammered Konan .

"Yeah I can see that," was the reply she received from him.

Itachi who was still patiently waiting for his answer continued to stare at both of them before sighing.

"You know what, just get down to the gathering hall, I think Hidan is having a fight with Kisame down there" he said while pointing his index finger at the floor.

"Oh, that hair bleaching bastard is still causing trouble huh, well lets go and get them to stop," said Pein as he started to head towards the stairs, followed by Konan and Itachi.

 **KONOHAGAKURE NO SATO**

 **COUNCIL CHAMBERS**

"THIS IS IT, I KNEW IT, UCHIHA SAMA WENT TO TAKE REVENGE FOR SAINDAIME SAMA! I TOLD YOU!" scream a councilor as many heads gave a nod of approval while the shinobi sides remain calm except Tsunade. Her head was going to burst from the amount of tick marks appearing on her forehead.

"SEE UCHIHA SAMA DESERVES TO BE RESCUED NOW"

"YES, HE IS THE MOST POWERFUL SHINOBI IN OUR VILLAGE"

"uh, technically he isn't in the village you know?"

"THAT'S WHAT I AM SAYING, HE IS ON A TOP SECRET MISSION TO ILL OUR ENEMIES"

"HE MAY BE THE MOST POWERFUL SHINOBI IN THE WORLD"

CRACK!

Everyone's attention was drawn towards the sound as the noticed the Godaime throw out a piece of meeting table out of the window. A large chunk of wood was missing from her side of the table as she dusted her hands while cleaning her nails.

"Now that all you baboons have shut your traps, there is something I would like to tell you all" said Tsunade as she took her position as the head of the table.

"Uchiha Sasuke was, is and will always be a rouge nin of Konoha or at least as long as I rule this military establishment as the Godaime. Yes it's true that he killed Orochimaru, my former teammate but his hands are also stained with the blood of innocent Konoha ninjas from the past. The fact that he is now capable enough to kill the likes Orochimaru, it spells trouble for us" she said.

"How can his growth spell trouble for us Hokage sama?" asked Koharu.

"If he attacked another village in search of Itachi, that village will blame us for allowing a rogue nin such as Uchiha Sasuke to roam the shinobi lands without any kind of actions from Konoha," answered Danzo instead of Tsunade as the hokage gave an indifferent look to the old war hawk.

"That and what you all know according to what our intel says, mentally Uchiha Sasuke is a very unstable person and we can't discard the possibility of him attacking Konoha in future. He has decided to break all the bonds with his past, that includes Konoha as well that is why, we believe sooner or later Uchiha Sasuke will come to attack Konoha," answered Tsunade with a stressed look on her face.

First the Kyuubi's assault, Yondaime's sacrifice, spreading of corruption in the roots of Konoha, massacre of the Uchiha clan, Itachi's betrayal, Kusa Suna invasion, Sandaime's death, Sasuke's betrayal, Konoha's Naruto's death, rise of Akatsuki, the tension between the great five and now this matter with Uchiha Sasuke's sudden rise in power, it looked like Konoha was in for a cleansing. May be the new village that may rise from the ashes of Konohagakure will be void of these mistakes but one thing that Senju Tsunade was sure of was, Hi no Kuni will always be protected by the shinobi of these lands.

 **FAR EDGE OF KAMINARI NO KUNI**

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"Chirp chirp!"

Wait

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Jyugo stared at the two people currently staring at him with dumbfound looks.

"Uh… is there something on my face?" he asked while tickling a sparrow with his finger.

"You can talk to birds?" asked a surprised Suigetsu while pointing a finger towards the pair of sparrows sitting on Jyugo's head.

"And you can turn in to a puddle," stated Jyugo easily, not realizing the questioning nature of Suigetsu's statement.

"Hehe more like turn in to piss" whispered Karin with a hand on her mouth.

"Hey I heard that you bitch!" shouted Suigetsu as he pointed an angry look at Karin.

"I wasn't trying to hide it anyways, you bastard!" shot back Karin.

"Bitch!"

"Bastard!"

"Karin, tell me if you sense someone up ahead," asked Sasuke as he glanced at the dense forest in front of them, completely ignoring the bickering of his two subordinates of team Hebi.

"Hai Sasuke Kun!" replied Karin with determination in her voice but she made sure to make a mocking face towards Suigetsu.

"Sasuke kun, not that I'm complaining or something but what exactly are we doing in Nami no kuni by the way?" asked Karin with a little timid behavior.

"We are going to Nami no Kuni to collect the Kubikiribocho of the late Momoichi Zabuza," replied Sasuke in a short sentence.

"Oh, but how come you know that the legendary Kubikiribocho is there?" asked a now surprised and gleeful Suigetsu.

"Because that is where my team left it after we took down its last own, that is Zabuza," said Sasuke not glancing back at his team.

"I am sure Sasuke kun took that man down easily after all Sasuke kun is also a master swordsman," beamed Karin as she glance at Sasuke through the corner of her eye before blushing madly and avoiding eye contact.

"It was my jonin sensei, Sharingan no Kakashi, who killed Zabuza, not me," said Sasuke before speeding up a little, creating some distance between him and his team.

While his team gawked at having just found out that their leader was trained by not only Orochimaru of the Sannin but also the legendary sharingan no Kakashi, he was finding himself getting more and more afraid of the thought of ever encountering _that_ Akatsuki agent. The mere thought of crossing paths with a monster like that was enough to make him stumble a little.

From what he could remember from the intel of kabuto, Itachi was partnered with Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the legendary seven swordsmen of the hidden mist. If he got Suigetsu the Kubikiribocho, then he will be able to at the very least attract the interest of the swordsman, and then Itachi will have to confront him alone and one on one. The only problem was that it has been some time since he got any type of intel regarding Akatsuki, so he wasn't sure if Itachi was still partnered with the mist shinobi or not. If somehow the pair was changed, then he will have to improvise his plan accordingly.

"Sasuke kun! There is someone in front of us," said Karin suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"How far?" asked Sasuke with urgency in his voice.

"About a mile ahead of us, uh, why is he just sitting there?" she said.

Sasuke furrowed his brows at the last question.

"What did you say?" he asked with confusion.

"He is just sitting there, as if he was waiting for someone," answered Karin innocently.

Turning towards the direction Karin had indicated, Sasuke activated his sharingan before focusing on the person's chakra.

HUGE

That is the only way to describe this person, but he wasn't emitting any hostility towards his environment, maybe he was just a random shinobi who got injured on a mission, hiding in the woods to recover. Still this person's chakra pool was easily that of an elite ANBU almost that of a kage, maybe he should scan to check the type of handicap this person was having to decide whether to approach him or not.

Deciding to scan a little more, Sasuke started to go a little faster towards the person, as his sharingan, though powerful, was only capable of scanning objects closer than a kilometer. Followed by his team, as soon as he reached within the limit, Sasuke again activated his sharingan and pointed his focus on the person.

But before he could process any of the appearance of the man, the man turned his head in his direction, like he was making eye contact with Sasuke, this made Sasuke stop in his tracks all of a sudden. It only made the man more excited as his chakra started to become restless.

Sasuke felt some strange kind of connection forming between his and the person's eyes before his sharingan deactivated on its own without even a hint of chakra exhaustion, it was like his own chakra was not obeying him and withdrawing from his eyes against his will. Just as the sharingan turned off, the strange connection broke as well but what made Sasuke fear the person the most was the words he heard via the connection.

"Finally, found you!"

 **Akatsuki HIDEOUT**

Deidara and Sasori were standing inside the decided hideout of Akatsuki with an unconscious Kazekage clutched by some of the spiders the ex Iwa nin made. He was missing an arm and was still bleeding a little from the stump that remained, while his partner in crime looked as good as new.

"I told you Sasori senpai, I could take him down on my own, but this mug face tore my arm off with that infectious sand of his, otherwise I would've wiped out Suna from the face of the earth, hn!" boasted Deidara with his remaining hand playing with a clay spider of his creation.

"I must say, taking him down was just a fluke, if he wasn't exhausted from saving the village from your C4, I would've been forced to step in," said Sasori with the heavy voice of his puppet.

"Whatever you say, it wasn't me who told him to place his neck between the C4 and the village, if it would've been me in his place, I'd rather let those rodents die then to spend my charka in saving them," said Deidara with a hint of indifference.

"May be that's why the Tsuchikage didn't announce you as his successor, good for Iwa" said Sasori.

"What, but-"

"Enough, contact leader-sama, and place the seal he gave us on the Kazekage," said Sasori in a scolding voice.

"Whatever," muttered Deidara as he channeled his chakra in the Akatsuki ring on his finger, signaling the other members of their invite for the extraction. The first one to appear was Pein himself as he observed Deidara place the seal he had given them on the back of the Kazekage. The unconscious and blooded face of Gaara did made him a little uneasy but he composed himself. Soon Konan appeared beside him along with Itachi followed by the remaining members of the group.

Pein had chosen this hideout very cleverly as the gedo-mazo was hidden in this cave by Nagato before his death. If he had chosen another hideout, then he couldn't have summoned the statue without a real pair of rinnegan, a luxury he currently lacked.

"So the blondie caught the Kazekage, eh?" asked Kisame as he grinned, showing shark like razor sharp teeth.

"It seems the Kazekage gave him quiet the trouble, if that stump of a hand is any indication," said Itachi emotionlessly.

"Hn, Kakuzu, I've my hand right here, mind stitching it back in place?" asked Deidara while swallowing his pride.

"Later" replied Kakuzu, only for Deidara's eyebrow to twitch.

"Enough, Sasori, why wasn't the situation handled by you?" asked Pein.

"It was his request, he wanted to take him down on his own, I decided to give him some chance and the idiot came out without his hand attached at the right place," answered Sasori.

"Seeing the condition you are in, Deidara will be sent to rehabilitation centre of Ame, until he fully recovers, your team will be stay on backup position" ordered Pein as the team nodded.

"Very well"

"Okay,hn"

Staring at the two empty posts on the fingers of Gedo Mazo, Pein's features turned hard as he clenched his fists a little. Madara and Zetsu missing from their positions, something quite rare must have occurred to occupy them somewhere else, something interesting. He will have to look into it, after the sudden fall of Orochimaru by the hands of Uchiha Sasuke, Madara was behaving differently. He wasn't taunting Pein regarding his orders of trying anything fishing in the organization. He had also withdrawn his name from the active members of Akatsuki.

"It seems that Madara and Zetsu will not be Joining us to-" just as Pein started to speak.

"My apologies," came the voice of their newest member, Guren.

The dark blue haired woman was standing in the position of Zetsu while 'Obito' appeared in Madara's position, using the same heavenly projection technique that all others were executing.

"We will be taking over for team two today, due to some unforeseen problems, team two requested team six to act as their replacement for today's ritual," finished Guren as she gave a light bow towards team one, that is, Pein and Konan.

This made Pein to exchange looks with Konan and Itachi before he decided to drop the subject for the time being.

"Alright everyone, start to feed your chakra to the Gedo Mazo as it sucks the Ichibi out of its host," Ordered Pein as his chakra seeped in the finger he was standing on.

Soon all the Akatsuki members assembled were guiding the Bijuu's chakra to the mouth of Gedo Mazo by pulling and pushing it with their own chakra. The cave lit up with the reddish chakra of the Ichibi as the first eye of the statue started to open slowly but surely.

Pein stared at all the members surrounding him with concentration, may be the absence of Madara was really a blessing in disguise. Now he will not have to use the precautionary measures that he had planned beforehand. Making sure that no one was looking, he cautiously closed his eyes and channeled some chakra to them.

'Sharingan!'

The rinnegan genjutsu on his eyes flickered for a second behind his eyelids before becoming normal again, showing the pale color of the legendary rinnegan. He slowly opened his eyes and almost smiled when he saw the almost unnoticeable thin string of chakra connecting him to the Kazekage. The seal was working perfectly as the flow of chakra in the string was without any fluctuations, maybe he will not have to carry the burden of killing a fellow Jinchuriki for the rest of his life.

 **NEAR THE HIDEOUT**

Team seven was travelling with a desperate speed, after all, the life of the Kazekage was at stake here. The suna elder, lady Chiyo, was leading the squad with an emotionless face. The news of her grandson's latest escapade was truly heart wrenching as the former puppeteer tried desperately to ready herself to encounter her grandson at any moment. His accomplishments as a puppeteer were something to be proud of but his allegiance was something else entirely. He had acquired the rank of an S ranked shinobi but that too was written as S-ranked _criminal_.

Former ANBU captain Hatake Kakashi was travelling on her right followed by chunin Haruno Sakura while on her left she was flanked by Konoha jonin Yuta and _chunin_ Sai. Yuta was assigned to team seven to lighten the burden of Kakashi because unlike team seven, all other teams had one of the members promoted to jonin rank. Neji, Shikamaru and Shino being the promoted jonins of their respective teams.

Kakashi stared at the letter of the hokage in his hands, informing him about the assigning of team nine as their backup. If he was asked, he would have preferred team eight as that was a tracker squad and that's exactly what they were doing, tracking down the Akatsuki. Team nine was a squad which specialized in close range combat. Team seven was already a frontal assault specialist squad and having team nine as backup will not have much of an effect on the situation, other than increasing in the number of allies of course.

Before he could crush the message and burn it as per the normal protocol, he sensed that they have just passed a barrier of some kind. The light fluctuations were sensed by everyone else as well because all the members of the team showed signs of tensing. Now the only problem was the fact that it didn't do anything to them unlike common barriers. This indicated to the only remaining possibility of it being a detection barrier.

"Everyone, stay alert, they know we are here," warned Kakashi in a grim voice.

 **INSIDE HIDEOUT**

Konan's eyes fluttered open as she felt the barrier being breached in the distance. Just as she was about to ignore it as one of the shinobi squads passing by like they normally did, another breach was detected, this time from a little distance away from the first one. Konan felt complied to inform Pein about the intrusion.

"Pein…" she said.

One her call, all the Akatsuki's opened their eyes and stared at here, clearly waiting for to tell them the reason of interruption. The astral figure of Pein opened his eyes, revealing the purple doujutsu. He turned his gaze to look at Konan's figure shimmering beside him.

"The sensory barrier of the hideout just sensed two breaches, one in about fifteen minutes north, other about ten minutes north-east, multiple hostile chakra signatures," she finished.

"How many?" asked Pein.

"At least eight to nine, may be more," she replied curtly.

Pein cursed inwardly, these shinobi must be the Suna tracker shinobi squads who were in pursuit of Deidara and Sasori. This will only delay them further, if the enemy managed to somehow enter the cave then their extraction ritual will be jeopardized. On the other hand, if he sent out someone to take care of the enemy then he will only be slowing down the ritual. The new Fuinjutsu trap that he had laid on the front of the cave would at least take one hour to tackle.

"Kakuzu, Kisame, you two are the closest to the enemy right now, send out a chakra enforced bunshins each to take care of the disturbances, try to delay them for an hour at the very least," ordered Pein.

"Alright,"

"Yes,"

Now, they will only need another hour or so to extract the Ichibi, luckily they were just extracting the Ichibi and it will only take three hours at most with such strong shinobis contributing their chakra in the process. If it was a higher ranked Bijuu, say Kyuubi, It would at least take three to four days for them to extract the strongest of the Bijuu.

"Done," came the voices of his two subordinates as confirmation.

"Good, now get started on the ritual, we don't have all day," said Pein as everyone went back to concentrating their chakra.

 **With Team Nine**

"Guy sensei, there is someone waiting for us ahead," informed Neji with his byakugan concentrating on the referred person.

"Very good Neji! Team, get ready to display your FLAMES OF YOUTH!" exclaimed Guy, somehow managing to give the nice Guy pose while still running at top speed.

"YOSH GUY SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GUY SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Tenten was on the verge of smacking both of her teammates on the head when Neji gasped.

Yes, NEJI GASPED.

"What happened , Neji?" she asked with mild confusion.

"This guys chakra reserve is at least double of that of a Jonin and its potency, I think we'll have a hard time dealing with him Tenten," he said with a little uneasiness.

"Guy sensei-" she started but was interrupted.

"I heard Neji, Tenten. Neji, tell me more about his features," ordered a serious Guy.

"Hai"

Concentrating on the figure of the enemy, Neji stressed his byakugan a little more to distinguish between his features.

"spiky hair, tall and muscular built, black cloak with red clouds and a huge weapon hefted on his shoulder," finished Neji.

"Hm, it seems we are up against the partner of one Uchiha Itachi," whispered Guy without any emotion.

"Who is this guy?" asked Tenten, a little worried by the sudden change in Guy's attitude.

"He is the one who infiltrated Konoha after the chunin exams, Asuma and Kurenai were unable to handle this guy even after teaming up," informed Guy while messaging his chin with his thumb, why was he getting the feeling of missing on something?

"He's here," informed Neji as he settled in the Hyuga taijutsu stance.

"Well, well well, so we meet again" spoke Kisame with a toothy grin while heaving the Shamehada from his shoulder and stabbing the said sword in the ground.

"Uh, I don't remember you, but whoever you are, get ready to experience the FLAMES OF YOUTH!" shouted an excited Guy only for Kisame's grin to disappear.

"I'll make sure to you remember me after I am done with you all" spoke Kisame before going through a series of hand seals.

"Suiton: Bakusui Shoha (Water style: Exploding water shockwave)"

 **With Team Seven**

"They must've know that we were coming from this direction, Kakashi Senpai," said Yuta, taking out his sword from its sheath.

"That barrier that we crossed back there was a detection barrier, just as I'd expected," confirmed Kakashi with his grip on the Kunais tightening.

"What are we gonna do now, Kakashi sensei?" asked Sakura, a hint of fear and desperation in her voice as their enemy wasn't someone they had faced before.

"All your plans are futile against me, turn back and run back to wherever you came from," said the enemy from under his mask.

Their enemy wasn't someone they had any intel on, maybe there were more Akatsuki agents in the vicinity and that spelled trouble to them. If just one of them was capable of taking out a kage who happened to be a Jinchuriki as well was any indication. But for now, they will have to fight this battle because the retrieval of the Kazekage was of top most priority. They will just have to take care of this one and in the mean time, Suna reinforcements will arrive to assist in the further mission.

"I will not be able to participate in this battle, son of Sakumo, you are on your own," said Chiyo as she jumped back a little to stay clear of the upcoming battle.

"Alright team, I think we'll have to fight this one on our own," said Kakashi as his team got ready to pounce at the enemy at any instance.

"Hatake Kakashi, you have a bounty of three million on your head," said Kakuzu and raised his hand before pointing a finger in the copy ninja's direction.

"I'll be collecting that money," he finished while pointing directly at Kakashi's head.

"You're welcome to try, it's not like you'll be the first one to try.

"I am sure of that, but I assure you, I'll be the last for sure," said Kakuzu before he disappeared in a flicker.

Kakashi disappeared in a flicker of his own, followed his whole team in toe. Chiyo stared at the battle of the Konoha shinobi with mild interest. She knew that the standard of Konoha shinobi were higher thatn that of Suna, Gaara's defeat in the Suna-Kusa invasion of Konoha three years ago was a clear evidence. If a mere genin was capable of taking down the Ichibi in its berserker form, then a team of two Jonin and two chunin was something that she wanted to see in action by her eyes. She wasn't proven wrong when the five shinobis appeared in a dead lock in the middle of the field.

"Kakuzu was standing in the middle on left leg, his right leg pulled upwards to block a kick from Sakura, his left hand was grasping the side of Sai's face while the said shinobi held his shoulder in a dead lock with both his hands, his ninjato in one hand. Kakashi was blocking the Kunai strike of the Akatsuki with his own, the tremendous power of the taki shinobi forcing him to use both of his hands to stop the kunai mere centimeters away from his facemask. As for Yuta, he was behind Kakuzu, sword in mid downwards arc with the intention of cleaving the enemy in half. Kakuzu's thread like extensions stoping the attack by coming out of his back and grabbing the hands holding the weapon.

Sakura was a little surprised as the shinobi stopped her chakra enforced kick without even moving a muscle. Sai was sweating a little but otherwise stayed emotionless. Kakashi showed signs of strain while holding his kunai in front of his face while Yuta struggled to free his hands and weapon from the thread like things.

Kakuzu stared at the situation he was in before shaking his head a little.

"Hm, this will take some time."

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**

()()()()()()()()()()()

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 **FACT TIME:**

 **Jiraiya's name is taken from a real book name 'Tales of the Gutsy Ninja', in which the main character is named Jiraiya. In the Naruto manga, Jiraiya wrote the same book with the same title.**


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